A Dove's Tale

Chapter 66

I was shaking as I walked to Prince Chevalier's room. Prince Gilbert had me at my wit's end. I couldn't deal with him anymore. I never had been able to, really, but I was so used to handling everything on my own that I thought I could manage him, too. The reality that I was completely helpless in his hands came crashing down on me, shattering any illusion of control, and I barely made it to Prince Chevalier's room before my legs gave out. I collapsed just inside his door, trembling uncontrollably, my face in my hands. Prince Gilbert's poisoned words rang in my ears over and over again.

You were mine long before he met you.

What did that mean?

He'd been watching me. Studying me. Hunting me down. Now, he had me backed in a corner, and I didn't even know why. Had he ever been here for Prince Chevalier, or Belle, or had this all been about me from the start?

I couldn't make sense of it.

I dropped my hands from my face and took a few deep breaths to slow my racing heart. The sunlight pouring through the windows highlighted the lump under the blankets, unmoving while I had my silent breakdown. Prince Chevalier needed to know. I didn't think he would punish Charlie, not severely, anyway. He'd investigated Charlie thoroughly before selecting him as my coachman, and even if he hadn't, I couldn't believe Charlie was a willing participant in Prince Gilbert's game. Charlie was always nice to me, always friendly, always smiling. I'd never seen him frown until today. He couldn't have let Prince Gilbert in the carriage of his own free will. Prince Gilbert threatened him, just like he threatened me.

No, not like he threatened me. Not at all.

I stood up and walked across the room to the window, pulling the drapes open and tying them back with numb fingers. The threats were enough on their own to shake me to the core, but when they mixed and mingled with the incessant worry I felt for Mother, the fear that I shouldn't have left her at all, I could barely breathe. My usual morning greeting wouldn't come. I sat on the edge of Prince Chevalier's bed, clenching my fingers into my skirt. The blankets rustled behind me.

"What are you doing?" Prince Chevalier mumbled.

I closed my eyes and forced the words out into the open.

"Prince Chevalier...I can't do this anymore."

I kept my eyes closed, not knowing what to expect from him. The bed shifted as he sat up and moved toward me. One hand reached across my stomach to hook around my waist, the other came around to the side of my head, both warm and gentle as he pulled me to his chest. I shivered slightly as his warmth drove away the lingering chill from Prince Gilbert. He sighed and rested his cheek against my hair, his fingers brushing across my cheek and settling on my shoulder briefly before sliding down my arm to my hand. His fingers interlaced with mine and pried them from my skirt, guiding my hand around to my waist and completing his secure embrace. Suddenly, I could breathe. Here, wrapped in his arms, I could breathe.

"Tell me," he murmured.

"I can't do it," I repeated in a small voice. "Mother keeps getting worse, and Prince Gilbert won't leave me alone, and I can't do it anymore."

"You don't have to."

"He was on the carriage," I whispered. "He knew my mother, and my father - my history - and he said I belonged to him before you knew me. And he was there - last night, he was there, at my house, but I didn't know because Prince Licht was with me. He's been watching me since Prince Clavis' party."

Prince Chevalier tensed around me as I poured it all out, pulling me tighter against him, and I finally felt safe. There was no way Prince Gilbert could touch me here. Prince Chevalier was warm and tender with me, but I felt the strength in his arms and his chest, a rock wall around me, and I knew he wouldn't let anything happen to me. His heart beat a steady rhythm against my ear, and I sighed as I relaxed in his arms.