Page 117 of Arrows and Gems
“So you could tellhim.” Tucker’s eyes hardened. “Cap was right from the start. Have you told the General all you know, then?”
Shame burned Helena’s cheeks. She hadn’t told the General anything, not even a description of Cap’s face. But in her moment of deepest despair, right after the General revealed his truth to her, she might have given up Cap’s name had she known it.
“How about you, young man?” General Valentin said, turning a kind smile on Tucker. “You know what awaits you in Laurier.”
Tucker gulped and his voice shook, but he met General Valentin’s eyes steadily. “Le Capuchon is the only name he ever gave me. But even if I knew another, I wouldn’t give it to you.” He glared at Helena. “Nor you. Cap deserves better than someone who would sell him out for her own safety.”
His words stung, but Helena held her tongue. She could do more good by letting them both draw the wrong conclusions than by correcting Tucker where the General could overhear. There were more important things than ensuring a fifteen-year-old thought well of her. Or other people that she would likely never see again.
Her gaze caught on Adrien. He looked disappointed, andthat nearly undid her. But she’d rather he live believing she was a traitor than die knowing that she cared.
“Not even going to answer?” Tucker challenged.
She blew a stray hair out of her face. “What would you like me to say, Tucker? I can’t help it if you imagined a relationship where there was none. And you ignored whetherheis good enough forme.” She sniffed. “An outlaw and a princess? Do you really see that combination working?”
Her heart cracked as she said the words, but she hid the pain. This was necessary to save her friends. To help both Cap and the lonely prince he served, even if Cap had never wanted more than her assistance.
Something inside her rebelled, arguing that the tenderness in Cap’s eyes had been too real, regardless of his goals when he saved her. But it didn’t matter. Now that her secret was out, she couldn’t marry an Amitian guard and live in obscurity. And he would never leave his prince.
So she might as well tell the lie. The truth would only make things worse.
Tucker’s jaw dropped, but Helena lifted her chin and spun away before he could reply. She ignored the General’s attempt to help her mount; he already knew that she was skilled with horses, so there was no point trying to act like a princess.
And she didn’t want him to see her fighting the tears.
CHAPTER 41
Helena
The nearly audible grinding of Luther’s jaw almost made General Valentin’s assistance with her dismount worth it. But as the wagons lumbered past, she could feel her friends’ eyes on her. Her stomach turned. They thought she’d betrayed them.
And she couldn’t prove them wrong.
“Helena. This is certainly a surprise.” Aunt Chloe’s voice wrapped around Helena a moment before her arms did. “When Steffan sent word that you were missing, I never expected you to resurface like this.”
Helena could hear the careful note of inquiry in her aunt’s tone. “It wasn’t how I expected to return, either,” she truthfully replied. “I never intended to visit Laurier.”
“I, for one, am glad that she changed her mind,” General Valentin said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “And that I was able to persuade her to make a home here instead of merely visiting.”
Helena’s smile turned brittle, but she kept her feelings buried. There was too much at stake.
Aunt Chloe’s eyebrows disappeared into the black hair artfully draped over her forehead. “I thought your council wished you to raise your family in Ralnor. Wasn’t that the purpose of their requirements?”
“I’m sure we can work something out,” General Valentinsmoothly inserted. “After all, I will not be regent forever.”
“I am aware of that,” Aunt Chloe replied coolly. “I’m pleased to hear that you are as well. With all of your changes, I was beginning to fear that you planned to keep the throne instead of returning it to my nephew.”
Uncle Felix placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Peace, Chloe,” he said quietly. His calm presence had always stood in stark contrast to his brother’s blustery nature. “You know my brother would step in if General Valentin’s intentions became less than honorable. He will ensure that your brother’s son sits on the throne that was meant for him.”
Helena noted with amusement that neither of them named the nephew to be crowned. A careless oversight on their part? Or a deliberate expression of support for the missing crown prince?
“If you’ll grab your things, we’ll take you home,” Uncle Felix continued, turning to Helena. “You must be weary after your travels.”
Staying with her aunt and uncle might be more comfortable, but she wouldn’t find what she needed in their townhouse. She stepped back with a smile. “I am, but I would like to meet Aunt Chloe’s side of the family. And it would please me to be nearer to—” She focused on the image of a guard shoving Tucker and Adrien into a dungeon cell, swallowed, and plowed ahead. “To my dear Valentin.”
Luther choked. “Your Highness. I am not sure your esteemed father—”
“I’m twenty-six, Luther,” she calmly replied, allowing his consternation to buoy her mood. “I don’t need my father’s approval to marry.”
