“He’s not actually sorry, you know,” Julien confided. “He’s laughing quite a bit in there.”
Gerard studied his oldest son with awe. “What wonderful things we could have done had that one not ruined your mind.” He sighed. “What an absolute waste.”
Julien’s stare was flat and chilling. “Don’t talk to me of waste. It’s my mind. My life. You were the only person who could explain what was going on within me. You knew I was different. You knew how and you knew why and you still sent me away with him and all that he thinks.”
“There was no saving you,” Gerard said sadly. “No saving him. It was his fault you were sent away. Remember that!” He whirled round on Viktor. “Every angry impulse, every selfish thought, your envy and hate, your rage and wrath. They consumed you whole, bursting out until the rest of the world suffered as much as you have. I should have smothered you the second I realized what I’d created.”
Viktor leaned forward, irises all but aflame. “But you didn’t, did you, Father? Does that thought fill you with shame and despair? Do you ever think how the world would be, if you had? Does your conscience keep you up at night, wondering what sort of glorious things the golden boy would have achieved had it not been for me?”
Alex’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What…what is he talking about?”
Viktor rolled his eyes. “Did you know that yours was the only birth they ever celebrated? Who could blame me for stealing out of my chambers? I just wanted to share in my brother’s special day. The golden child’s golden birthday.” He doffed the back of Alex’s head, ruffling his hair.
Alex ducked, trying to free himself from Viktor’s grasp. “Father!”
“Father,” Viktor mimicked, pitching his voice too high. “Help me. Save me!” He pantomimed something falling from a great height before smashing into the ground.
My blood ran cold as I realized his meaning.
“Alex didn’t fall from the balcony, did he?” I asked Gerard. “He was pushed over.” I turned to Viktor. “By you.”
“Julien helped too,” Viktor admitted as Alex’s mouth dropped open.
“Only because you were so angry.” Julien glanced back to Gerard. “You’ve no idea how persistent he is in here,” he said, tapping his forehead. “It’s like being pulled about on puppet strings. Even when he’s far away, I can feel the cords tugging at me, slicing up all my insides and soft matter.”
“You could have killed me,” Alex said, aghast.
Viktor rolled his head about, stretching his neck. “That actually was the point. We didn’t know you were so…hardy. He still is, too, you know, Father? We’ve been dropping all sorts of things into his teas, his nightcaps, but nothing has stopped him yet.”
“The muscle spasms he’s been having,” I gasped, realizing what they’d done. “You’ve been drugging him?”
Viktor grinned.
Alex’s fingers dug into the arms of his chair. “Why? Why would you— What have I ever done to you?”
“It was never you. It’s always been to punish us.” Gerard sighed. “After the first fire, Dauphine and I sent away the nursemaids, the extra hands. We told everyone Viktor and Julien had stopped breathing in their sleep one night. We presented you as a single child.”
“There it is,” Viktor said cheerfully. “They only had eyes for you. The unproblematic favored son. The bright, shining light of the Laurent family. Arina, how I hated you.” He brightened. “But no longer. Now I see, now I understand. Now I know exactly who’s responsible for everything. You”—he pointed to Gerard—“and that woman.”
“Mama is no longer with us,” Julien reminded him.
A funny little laugh fell from Viktor’s lips. “Oh, yes. I almost forgot—my deepest condolences on your recent loss, Father. But I suppose you’ve no need of coaching on how to grieve the death of a lover. You’ve gone through so many over the years.”
“You…，” I murmured, finding my voice. “You were the ones who poisoned the wine.”
“Sadly, no. Someone beat us to it.” Viktor’s head swung to Gerard, his eyes sparkling and sly. “Any thoughts on who could have done something so heinous?”
I felt like a battering ram had struck my sternum, knocking every bit of breath from me. I stumbled to the second armchair, sinking into its tufted leather.
Alex’s eyebrows furrowed together, impossibly wounded. “Father, what are they saying?”
“It…it was an accident,” Gerard said, his voice stripped bare and strained. He’d been so stoic before, riding out his pain behind a hardened fa?ade, but it crumbled now as Viktor and Julien blew it apart, one crack at a time. “Verity, you must believe me. That wine was never meant for you. Or Dauphine. I swear it upon my very life.”
The room fell into stunned silence.
Gerard had drugged the wine.
Gerard had poisoned us.
Poisoned Dauphine.
Murdered Dauphine.
I tried to wrap my mind around it. Around that afternoon. “If the wine wasn’t meant for us, who was it for? It was there for someone, already poisoned…for who?”
Julien tilted his head. “Yes, Papa. Who?”
Gerard took a shaky breath. “That’s a very long story.”
Viktor held up his hand, gesturing about the room. “And yet, we’ve nothing here but time. Tell the Brothers Laurent a good tale. Shall we cuddle under some blankets and douse the lamps?”
Beside me, Alex remained silent, staring at his father with a look as sharp as granite. I could feel the waves of fury radiating from him.
“The wine…” He cleared his throat, trying again. “That wine, at the tavern, isn’t poison. Not exactly.”
“You added something to it, that much is clear,” Julien said.
Gerard nodded. “A bit of…” He swallowed, looking queasy. “A rather large bit of valerian root. It’s a sedative. It’s not meant to kill anyone, just—”
“Render them unconscious,” Viktor jumped in. “Just long enough for you to abscond the lady in question back to Chauntilalie. I’m curious, Father. Would you have your way with her once she stirred or would she wake up already in the family way?”
“Is there any water in here?” I interrupted, my stomach churning. The combination of heat cast from the blazing fire and the cool recitation of Gerard’s crimes left me close to swooning. “I feel faint.”
“Of course,” Gerard said, motioning to ring the little bell on his desk.
“Stop,” Julien said, covering the brass bauble and sliding it neatly out of Gerard’s grasp. “It’s a bit crowded in here already, wouldn’t you say?” He glanced at me. “And you wouldn’t really drink anything that man gave you, would you?”
He had a point, I thought, swallowing miserably.
“So Mother was simply a victim of gluttony,” Viktor mused. He tsked as if it saddened him before a snicker burst free.
Alex pressed his hand over his mouth. I saw the line of his throat contract, as if holding back his urge to retch and knew this was becoming too much for him. Dauphine’s death, Gerard’s admissions, it was all too much. He looked like a thread overwound and about to snap.