“Is that why you tried to poison your half brother?”
His eyes widened in shock. “How do you know?”
“I have some of Elea’s memories.”
More tears fell down Alexandre’s cheeks. “Then, he didn’t die?”
“No, she saved him.”
Alexandre jerkily nodded with more sobs. “I-I am so g-glad. I d-didn’t want him to d-die. I d-didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to die, and Father threatened to kill Yvette. He sent her family away from the palace.”
Fear made people do unconscionable things. She gently pulled him into her arms and hugged him. “Everyone makes mistakes. You must do your best to make amends with your half brother.”
“My father was right. I am not good enough to be king. I am not worthy of Yvette’s love or trust.”
Nora squeezed him tighter. “You’re good enough for me, and your father is the one that no one will miss.”
He cried into her shoulder for a few more minutes. Then he nodded and pulled away. She watched him breathe in slowly as if air was still something new, precious.
“I suppose trying to murder a member of one’s family is not shocking to you. Do you still plan to murder your father, Laird Lochdon?”
“Of course,” Nora said with a dark smile. “He beat my mother to death when she was seven months pregnant with me. It’s a miracle from my goddess that I survived. That I lived.”
His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. “Zoots!”
“Perhaps I should have told you that little detail when I was twelve, and then you wouldn’t have been so shocked at my darkest secret. I wasn’t at all shocked by your undying love for Yvette, who was two whole years older than you and engaged to another courtier. Who you were afraid didn’t even know that you were alive.”
A smile played on his painted lips. “I think you liked me being a little bit afraid of you.”
A laugh snuck out of her throat. “I did. My father has also sent an endless line of assassins to murder Elea. No doubt he was the one who killed my uncle and his second family.”
He gulped. “Our informants say that Laird Lochdon has seized control of the capital and means to rule through your claim.”
Nora toyed with the paring knife, twisting it through her fingers like Matteo did when he was thinking. “Then his rule will be a short one. . . . Maybe it is time for our darkest secrets to become our truths. I will kill him.”
“And you think I should marry Yvette? Even knowing that she has never had her monthly courses and will not be able to give me an heir? That is why her engagement with the comte was ended.”
She shrugged her shoulders and felt pain in the small movement. “That is up to you. Do you love her more than you want an heir?”
Alexandre swallowed and then nodded, smiling. “I love her more than anything in the world.”
Nora placed a hand on his arm. “I wish you every happiness, and thank you for not telling your father who I truly was. You recognized me from the first moment you saw me at court. I could see it in your eyes.”
He pulled at his sleeve as if nervous. “My mother recognized you too and protected you as well as she could, as if you were truly her niece. She has always thought of you as thus.”
Nora shook her head. “I have no quarrel with your mother. I simply want to make sure that she is safe. She was kind to me when her sister, my aunt, died.”
Alexandre stepped over his dead father. “Come, I will take you to her. There’s a secret hiding spot for members of the royal family.”
“And you’re going to show it to me?” Nora asked, shaking her head. “I’m not a member of your family.”
The prince held out his bandaged hand to her. “I think you are now.”
Nora surprised herself by taking it. She would never have looked behind the king’s royal privy for a queen. The smell was overwhelming, and Nora didn’t even have Elea’s sensitive nose. Alexandre pulled on the left sconce and the wall swung open, revealing a small priest’s hole, with Queen Maria inside of it. Her eyes widened first in fear and then surprise at seeing Nora.
“But you’re . . . you’re dead,” she said, pointing. Queen Maria’s already pale face looked ashen.
“It’s all right, Mother,” Alexandre said, stepping out from behind the wall. “Nora’s tougher than we realized and she saved my life.”