“Then why in heaven’s name didn’t you go with her?” asked Delganor, without thinking, real irritation in his voice. “I should have thought you would have done so!”
Aufors dropped his jaw, only momentarily. “I … I wasn’t consulted about her going, sir.”
Nor, he thought, about Duchess Alicia’s going, either. Since the Duchess was his only connection to Genevieve, he had gone to her house at once, only to find she had departed for Ruckward. After a time weighing the various possibilities and consequences, he had decided to tell the Prince what he intended. In that way, he could not be accused of dishonorable conduct.
“What do you propose?” asked the Prince, in an irritated tone.
“Inasmuch as she was to take up certain duties here at the palace under your aegis, Your Highness, I felt it only proper to tell you that I intend to find out where she has gone, to follow her, and to offer her my protection by marrying her, despite the Marshal’s opposition to the match.”
Once more in full command of himself, the Prince said, “I am certainly not pleased.”
His stern face and unyielding mouth made this quite believable. Aufors gritted his teeth and was humble. He had practiced being humble all the way to the palace, and he was determined to do it well. “No, sir. I am truly desolated by that fact.”
The Prince drew a deep, dramatic breath, a very audible sigh with only a touch of petulance in it. “Young people. Oh, young people. So urgent. Well, I too was once young. Though the young lady has behaved foolishly—even ungraciously, one might say—you, yourself, Colonel, have behaved as honorably as one would expect of the hero of the Potcher War.”
He mused, drawing his brows together, frowning, tapping his ringer on the arm of his chair, cocking his head, pursing his lips, slightly changing position and then doing it all again, the perfect picture of a man concentrating on an issue. He said at last:
‘Well. I will make you an offer, Colonel. Though I am greatly displeased at her impetuous behavior—scarcely what one would expect from one so carefully educated, one whom I myself recommended to the Lord Paramount—I will not make an issue of her departure. I will withhold my displeasure in return for your promise to accompany me on my planned trip to Mahahm. I need trustworthy people, and your honorable actions concerning this matter do you credit. Also, it is at least nominally a military mission, so it’s in your line of work.”
Aufors felt his tight jaw relax, his rigidly locked knees start to tremble, ever so slightly. He had thought he risked everything. His life, perhaps. He had believed it necessary to risk everything including his life, and he was now not only surprised but dumbfounded. All he could think of to say was, “Your Highness is most generous.”
“The terms are agreeable, Colonel? For you and the lady to accompany our mission? Hmmm? In return for my permission for you to marry.”
The evanescent little smile had gone. The slight frown of disapproval had gone. There was nothing now in that face or voice to give anything away, but nonetheless, something in that voice brought Aufors’s eyes up, to meet the expressionless gaze of the Prince.
He considered. The offer seemed generous. Aufors would have accepted a sentence of death in order to let Genevieve escape from this man, and this bargain was far less than that. If there was a trap in it, it was a trap for himself, not for her.
“If she consents to marry me, Your Highness. You have my word.”
The Prince made a gesture, waving this away. “No ifs, Colonel, but you had best go to the Marshal and explain to him that I have consented to your marriage with his daughter—that is, when and if you find her— in return for your accompanying me to Mahahm. I think, once he hears that, he will not oppose, as you put it, the match.”
“Thank you, Your Highness, for your generosity.”
Aufors bowed and backed away from the presence, not seeing the little smile return, not raising his head until he stopped in the anteroom to wipe his beaded forehead. He stank of fear-sweat. Why, in heaven’s name? He hadn’t known he was terrified. He had sworn to himself he would face death without being terrified, but something about the Prince, something . . . well, he could understand Genevieve’s aversion, put it that way.