Chapter Five

Tom was good about lagging a little so Sébastien didn't feel like he had someone pasted to his hip. Whisper barely needed guidance as he walked down the street and avoided stepping on anybody. The crowd thickened a bit not far from a tavern. It wasn't the sort Sébastien would want to enter since the windows were grimy and the front door looked ready to fall off the hinges. Two men appeared ready to go at it, and several people stopped to watch, further clogging the way.

"For fuck's sake," Sébastien muttered under his breath as a man stepped out to talk sense into the two brawlers.

Whisper huffed as he went around someone, and Sébastien glanced into the alley to his right. Far down, it widened, and he spotted a man dragging a little girl.

A little girl with wings too tiny for flying.

Her bare feet struggled to keep up, and she was yanked left and behind the tavern where Sébastien couldn't see anymore. What the fuck? The alley was quite narrow, and he didn't like bringing Whisper through. The space beyond wasn't that big either, and while his unicorn was pretty good about knowing where to go, the idea of a small child running in panic and getting underfoot made him slide off.

Whisper let out a small whinny at being left so abruptly.

"Stay there." Sébastien didn't have to worry about anyone trying to hop on and steal him. Whisper would buck them off in a heartbeat.

"Your Majesty?" came Tom's voice.

Sébastien hurried down as he gripped his sword hilt.

"I said if you don't bring me anything, you gotta pay another way. Do you think protection is free?"

A sound like a slap came from around the corner, and a little girl's voice blubbered words that Sébastien didn't quite catch.

"Don't give me your fucking excuses. Maybe you should have worked up the tears earlier to get a few coins."

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

The man jumped and fumbled at the ties of his trousers as Sébastien stepped into view. A few old crates were stacked near the backdoor of the tavern, and a nasty puddle lurked not far from the back of the building facing the next street.

"I'm telling my sister to stop running around," the man said smoothly as he seemed to recover and redid the ties. "She's always getting in other people's way."

"In a back alley? With your trousers undone?"

"I was fixing the ties. They got messed up, Your Majesty."

"And you had to do that in a dirty alley with her right in front of you?"

He squinted. "It's too noisy to hear in the street, Your Majesty. I brought her back here to make sure she was listening to me. I don't know why you came over like this. You never had to fix your clothes before either?"

Sébastien damn near saw red as the man lied like it was nothing. The little girl clutched one side of her red face as she stared at Sébastien and clearly recognized him. She was the same one who'd given him the drawing hanging in his sitting room. Last time, she'd been relatively clean although her dress hadn't been in the best shape.

Now, her dress was stained, and the sleeve was torn. She lacked shoes, and her feet were dirty and nicked as if she'd been walking around barefoot for quite a while. Her hair was a tangled mess that she'd tried to tie back.

"I wouldn't fix myself with anyone's face that close. You also slapped her." Sébastien noticed Tom hurrying down the alley, and he held up a hand. "Stay there."

Tom paused. "Your Highness. I-"

"Yeah, Remus will wring your neck if anything happens to me. I know. It's fine. I can handle him."

The man grabbed the little girl's wrist, and she leaned back slightly, not that she could hope to pull away. Tom inched forward anyway so he could at least see as the man spoke.

"Come on. We're going home."

"I said you slapped her," snapped Sébastien. "You're not going to explain yourself?"

Annoyance crossed his face. "Our Mum slapped me too when I was a brat. How else am I supposed to get her to listen? She never pays attention. I don't see why you care about what a couple of commoners do. Is it illegal to discipline a child? Why are you harassing me over nothing?"

Plenty of parents smacked their kids. Sébastien didn't think that was right, and his Mother had never once slapped him to make him listen.

"So what was the part about making her pay another way? What is she supposed to bring you in exchange for protection? If she's your sister, she shouldn't owe you anything."

"I didn't say that, Your Majesty."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I-I think you misheard."

"Is that your brother?" Sébastien asked the girl who hadn't stopped looking at him. She shook her head, and his gut clenched. He knew exactly what was going on.

The man rolled his eyes and tugged on her arm. "You can't lie to people to get out of trouble. Just wait until I tell Mum-"

"You're not going anywhere with her," snarled Sébastien.

"I am her brother-"

The girl finally managed to speak. "No, he's not."

"Why are you always lying?! Mum said-"

Sébastien crouched. "Let go of her before I slice off your arm. If another lie comes out of your mouth, maybe I'll cut out your tongue too."

He dropped her wrist like it was on fire, and the girl immediately ran to Sébastien to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I'm not lying. I p-promise!" Her sobs renewed.

"Hey!" said Tom, and Whisper practically shoved him out of the way, unable to leave his favorite fairy for too long. He entered the back alley, and the man stepped back as the unicorn lowered his horn, apparently sensing the trouble.

"I don't think you're lying." Sébastien squeezed the little girl before he glared at the man. Something in his face said he was thinking about hauling ass and couldn't quite work up the courage. Three would be chasing after him since Whisper counted too. He might get away, or he might not, and Sébastien would tell the city guards. "You're one of those sick bastards who snatch kids and make them beg. You eat from whatever they collect, and they get scraps if they're lucky."

A person like that might also do whatever else they wanted to the child. Things Sébastien didn't want to say out loud. They might even whore out the child when they were older.

"That's a disgusting thing to say-"

"I heard what you said to her." The fucker, who dared to stand there and lie to Sébastien's face, was no better than the Regent who'd made him constantly pay either as punishment or for gifts he didn't want.

He'd known there were other people in the world like Uncle. He just hadn't expected to meet another face-to-face with one of his victims. He'd probably already done this before, not that he'd ever admit it. How long had he had this child?

The man looked at Tom who held no sympathy for him in his eyes. "Okay, she's not my sister, but I am trying to take care of her. She's got nobody, and she'll die out here with no one to protect her. Homeless people sometimes do that, not that you'd know. You'll never be homeless."

"And what's the price for that?"

"We share food and stuff. I told her she does have to do her part because I can't feed two mouths forever with what I beg, and odd jobs here and there aren't enough either."

"Oh, yes. I'm sure you protect her. By slapping her and doing other things I won't say out loud." Making sure he had a good grip on the girl, he stood, and she tightened her arms around his neck. "Tom, stay here with him. He's under arrest, and I need to ask her a couple of things."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Tom drew his sword.

"Hey! You don't have proof of anything! You can't arrest me!"

"If he keeps talking, punch his teeth out."

"With pleasure, Your Majesty."

Sébastien was so furious, he wanted to beat the man's head against the stone wall, and if he heard one more lie, he might. The girl sniffled as he carried her through the alley to stand near the main street and set her down. Whisper followed, and she stared between them as she wiped at her face.

Sébastien kneeled to be at her eye level while he tried to get his own emotions under control. If he didn't appear calm, it might stress her out more.

"Can you tell me your name?" He wished he'd caught it last time. She'd already returned to her Mother before he realized he hadn't asked.

"élo?se. I don't want to go back with him. He's m-mean."

"You're not going back to him." He pulled his linen hanky from his pocket to dab at her wet cheeks. "How did he snatch you?"

"I was eating from the midden behind the general shop."

Damn it. Considering a stranger had her, he'd figured. Her words made it more obvious she was alone now.

"If you were eating from the midden, I guess you're on your own?" She hadn't been nearly so dirty the last time he saw her, and while it was obvious her Mother wasn't rich, she'd been properly fed.

élo?se nodded. "Mama got sick and couldn't get up."

"Oh. I'm sorry, élo?se. And your Father?"

"I don't have one."

He wasn't around or he had died, and she didn't remember him.

"You don't know that man at all, right?" he asked, and she shook her head. "When did he take you?"

"This morning."

That didn't mean he hadn't done anything else despite only having her for a short time. The scene in front of the tavern was over, but an older man stopped to gawk at them. It's not every day the King of Soleil is talking to a grubby child in the mouth of an alley.

"Fuck are you looking at?" he snapped, not in the mood for anyone's shit. The man hurried along, and he focused on élo?se again as he lowered his voice. "I'm going to ask you a couple of things, and I need you to be honest with me. Did he touch between your legs or under your skirt?"

If he had, Sébastien might cut off a certain part. She shook her head.

"Did he lay on you or make you touch between his legs?"

"No."

"Did he put anything in your mouth?"

She shook her head again, appearing confused by the questions.

The bastard still needed to be dealt with because he had been about to attempt a disgusting act since she'd had a bad day at begging for coins. If Sébastien had decided to stay in, linger at the scent shop, or take a different way home…if the street had been less crowded, and he'd simply ridden by without looking…the thought made him utterly sick.

He took a deep breath. "What did he do?"

"He told me that he was going to protect me, and I had to pay him. I didn't like him, and I wanted to go. He said I had to stay with him and do what he said. He yelled at me and said I'd be sorry if I ran because-because he'd find me and burn my wings."

"And then what?"

"He wanted me to go beg and bring him the money or he'd make me pay. I kept seeing him around the streets, and he always looked mad. Nobody gave me nothing, and he was really mad."

He'd likely planned to beat her too if she didn't acquire coins to hand over, and paying another way was a thing she likely didn't get at her age. Thank Elira. No child should understand that. She had marks on her arm that were already bruising since he'd grabbed her.

"Listen, I'm going to take you to a physician now. Wipe your face with my hanky, and wait here for a minute. Don't move. Whisper's a good boy."

Tom had drawn his sword, and the man was standing against the wall with a defiant expression.

"Go watch élo?se and Whisper," Sébastien told Tom. "I'll deal with him."

"Er, Your Majesty?"

"Don't argue with me."

Tom headed down the side of the tavern and out of sight. Without Tom and his sword right there, the man made a move like he was going to try to run the opposite way to get to the next street and away.

Until Sébastien's fist collided with his nose and forced him back into the wall. He grabbed at his face and howled.

"You're a sick fuck!"

"I didn't do nuthin'!" He clutched his bleeding nose. "I was just helbin' and-"

"By leaving bruises and using her for money?"

"If you touch me again-" The man brought fire to his fist.

"What?" Sébastien screamed at him. "You'll do what? I'll run you through and set your corpse on fire, you fucking piece of shit. I know exactly how you planned to make her pay."

The man let his fire go out. "Whatever she said, she's lying."

"Even if you only planned to force her to beg and give you what she collected, that's a form of slavery. I've outlawed slavery. Then again, maybe you weren't paying attention to the laws since you were too busy looking for a victim to snatch."

The man's eyes flashed as he wiped his sleeve across his nose. "You're sick because you came up with the worst thing to blame me for. I was just helping her out."

"You were undoing your trousers right in front of her face. She told me you threatened to burn her wings if she ran away."

"I think you're messed up in the head, and I don't care if you're the King. Go ahead and toss me in prison for speaking my mind. You spent too much time with that Rowland King, and you were in the Palace before it collapsed. I heard you got stabbed by someone inside. Maybe too much blood drained out of your head, and now your brain isn't thinking right if you believe a kid's wild stories."

"You know what?" Sébastien let his gaze trail up along the wall to a point a couple of feet to the right of the man's head. "What do you think of that?"

"Huh?"

"Right there on the wall. Do you see it?"

The man's befuddled expression would have been funny if Sébastien wasn't quietly raging inside. He turned a little to look up.

"What the fuck are you tal-"

He made a choked noise when Sébastien's dagger sliced across his throat. Blood sprayed on the bricks, and he stumbled as he clutched at his neck. Running him through with his sword would have been satisfying, but that could've gotten messy, and Sébastien didn't want to return to élo?se with blood all over him like a crazed lunatic. Still clean and neat, he stepped back and flicked off the blade as a strange noise came from the guy.

"I've sentenced you to death for enslavement, child abuse, and attempted rape."

Sébastien breathed heavily as the rage flared for a moment. Part of him wanted to burn the man to ashes too, but he didn't need to do that. He couldn't anyway. Not without standing there for ages and using his fire magic on the man. Despite his anger, Satan was gone and not returning, so he'd never have that kind of fire again, thank Elira. If anyone looked at his eyes at that moment, they wouldn't see red.

The man's knees buckled. Falling against the bloody wall, he went limp and collapsed. The blood slowed since the heart had little to pump out. Sébastien took a few moments to steady his breathing. It was done. The bastard certainly wouldn't be enslaving anyone to beg for him or using them to suck his dick as "payment." There would always be sick fucks like him in the realm, but at least this one was gone.

He needed to get élo?se to the physician, and she'd feel better if he seemed calm. She had been frightened enough earlier. Once he felt contained enough, he wiped the majority of the blood on the man's homespun shirt before he returned to the others.

"Did he run?" Tom craned his neck to look behind Sébastien.

"No. Do you really think I'd let him run away and come moseying back here like nothing happened?"

Tom frowned. "Oh. I can guess what's back there."

"I gave him a nice smile on his neck. Do you have a hanky or something?" élo?se was still holding his.

"Yeah…"

"Clean that for me, will you?" Sébastien handed over his dagger. A little red was near the handle.

Tom took the weapon. "At least this one deserved it."

Sébastien ignored that comment and crouched in front of élo?se. "You're going to ride with me on the unicorn, okay?"

She nodded while staring at him like he was Elira in the flesh. "Is he going to come back and take me away?"

"No. You'll never see him again. You're safe now, and I promise that."

"Can I have a piece of bread? I'm really hungry, and I ain't got money."

"We'll get you something to eat too, but you have to see the physician first. You have to hold onto the pommel and sit still while we ride. Tom, I need you to go fetch a couple of city guards. Tell them what happened and why. Deal with the…remains."

Tom handed back the dagger. "I should stay with you."

Sébastien stood to tuck the dagger into the sheath on his belt. "I'm going to Maxime's house. I'll be fine. Remus won't kill you for leaving me alone because I said so, and I can take care of myself in general."

Tom didn't argue after that. Sébastien helped élo?se onto the saddle and climbed up behind her. He'd already made his choice, and it hadn't taken much thinking considering he didn't have many choices. It wasn't like he could leave her in the street.

"Do you have family somewhere else? Like a Grandma or an Aunt?"

"No." She sniffled.

Then it was definitely settled. Like fuck he was going to plunk her on the street and ride away. He had to bring her home since she had nobody. The problem was that he and Remus hadn't actually decided on kids. Heirs are generally important, but Sébastien didn't particularly care if his bloodline continued, and Remus hadn't seemed eager to get started on making plans for a kid as an heir. Since they weren't married just yet, it hadn't seemed important to get started on settling those details.

Whisper walked down the street and gave a cart a wide berth as Sébastien spoke. "How long have you been on your own?"

"Um…"

"Can you guess how many months?"

"I don't know." She tried to twist around to look at him.

"Face front and don't let go of the pommel." Even though Sébastien had his arms on either side of her, the last thing he needed was for her to slip off. "What was it like outside when you had to leave your home? Warm? Cold?"

"Mama got sick the next day after you were made King."

"Do you mean when I was made the Duke of Midland?" He hadn't been coronated yet, so there was no way she could have seen that.

"Oh. Yeah. Mama said you weren't the King yet. I forgot."

Dear Elira. She'd been on her own through winter in nothing but an old dress while she ate rubbish and begged for the occasional coin. "She got sick the next day?

"Yeah. And she wouldn't get up, and then, she stopped moving, and I told a neighbor, but they couldn't make her wake up."

"I'm sorry," said Sébastien. She wouldn't be the first left destitute after a parent grew ill and died.

Remus wasn't going to like this. What man asked another to marry, and then had a kid to take care of shortly afterward? She wasn't his by blood, and it would be a huge change in their life. It wasn't like with a consort or adoption where they'd have time to get used to the idea of having a kid and could plan for the coming change and responsibility.

He wasn't giving her up. He didn't even know if he could trust an orphanage somewhere. There weren't many, and they often didn't have enough caretakers. Sometimes, kids ran away from them because the other children fought and brutalized each other. A couple of caretakers might be stretched too thin, and they wouldn't be paying attention to what everyone was doing.

There was no way he could take her to one of those places. The caretakers themselves could be abusive. How could Sébastien place her in one of those places? What if something happened to her? He'd just promised she'd be safe, and he couldn't go back on his word.

He'd have to worry about Remus in a bit. Maxime's house was nearby. Sébastien had continued paying him the same amount per month even though there was no court for him to attend. Bored, Maxime had started taking in commoners for little or nothing.