Page 13 of Love Me Forever

“You’re all grown up.” She paused in front of the desk. “I don’t know what you were told back then, but I’d swear to Elira herself, I didn’t take that necklace, and I’m not here to ask you for anything.”

“I know you didn’t. The Regent planted it. He was the one who suggested checking the servant’s quarters. I’m assuming healone was the one who snuck into the lady’s rooms, took it, and planted it under your mattress to be ‘found.’”

Milly’s shoulders sagged. “I thought another servant-He did it?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry.” Sébastien’s chest tightened. She’d sort of been like an Aunt or an older cousin. When she’d cleaned downstairs, she’d never seemed to mind if he came to find her and hang out. It had been a bit of normalcy since he’d no longer had real friends. “I tried to have you released.”

“I didn’t expect anything of you. You were fifteen.” She slid her pack off to set it on the floor by the chair and came around. “If you’d let me-”

Sébastien wasn’t inclined to hug people, but it was Milly, and women didn’t usually make him feel unsafe. He let her, and she patted his back.

“It was my fault,” he mumbled.

“You were a teenager-”

“No, the Regent did it because I was always talking to you. He saw us when we were sitting on the back step, and you were eating your lunch and telling me about babies born on the Winter Solstice. He’d often told me to stay away from the servants because they were beneath me, but it was so I wouldn’t get close to anyone. He didn’t want me to spend time with you, and he planted the necklace so you’d be arrested and taken away.”

Milly drew back to squint at him. “Do you mind if I sit? It was a long walk trying to find what street you were on. I asked a woman for directions, and I think she got her streets mixed up.”

“Yeah.”

She took the chair across from him. “I heard about…things. With the Regent.”

“Mhm.” His gut tensed. Another reminder that he’d been violated.”

“I wish you’d told me something.”

Sébastien didn’t know what to say to that. Uttering the words out loud to anyone had been unthinkable at fourteen and fifteen.

“I know I wouldn’t have had the power to stop him, but if you’d wanted, I could have slipped a note into Jean’s room or something,” she continued. “So someone with more power could have stopped it.”

His chest squeezed. The idea of anyone knowing back then had made him utterly sick with fear. Even if he’d known Milly would have tried, he wouldn’t have been able to admit the truth. “Jean wouldn’t have believed any secret notes left in his quarters. He would have thought someone was trying to smear his brother. Corentin committing such an act…he wouldn’t have ever believed it.”

She frowned. “I thought you were just lonely. I figured with you and Prince Remere being teenagers, perhaps he’d been trying to have his own friends. Some brothers don’t want the little one tagging along, and with your Father constantly busy, you seemed lonely. I don’t see why the Regent went to such extremes unless he thought you’d tell me.”

“He didn’t want me to have any friends. It was easier to keep me isolated so he could manipulate me. Once the abuse stopped, I’m sure you heard the rest about how he was seeking the throne.”

“I’ve heard enough lately while I was traveling.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I thought one of the servants had planted the necklace. She’d been rather sour about me getting a raise the past year, and she hadn’t. It was all I could think of. I didn’t think the Regent was trying to keep you alone. That’s not your fault.”

“I should have stayed away from you.”

“You couldn’t imagine what would happen. Nobody did. You also couldn’t control anyone else.

Sébastien took a deep breath. “I begged Uncle to talk to Jean to make him change his mind. He said he did, but I think he was lying.” He had paid the price for asking too.

“You were a teenager, and none of that was your fault.”

If he asked Remus what he thought, he knew deep down Remus wouldn’t say it wasn’t his fault.

“Do I need to go kill someone?” Sébastien asked.

“Huh?” She blinked at him.

“I don’t know who bought you. If they did anything to you…” Milly wouldn’t lie about a thing like that, and he’d personally deal with the person himself.

“No, no.” She shook her head. “An older man bought me to clean his house. He didn’t touch me.” She made a face. “I was more like a piece of furniture.”

“Did he hit you?” Sébastien would take care of that too.

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