Page 81 of Raul
“The same thing I always want.” She leaned forward with the speed of a striking cobra. “To make Luis suffer.” Her voice even carried the hiss of a snake.
“Is that really your goal?” Raul asked, trying to get a read on her.
“It is all I have, considering that I am imprisoned here for life. What else could I possibly achieve?” She shook her chains again. “I don’t intend to start a support group for regicides.”
“I think you want something else,” he said. “Something I’m prepared to give you.”
For the first time, she looked uncertain. “Why would you give me anything?”
“Because you’re a nuisance I’m tired of. Like a cockroach who skitters out of its hole in the wall long enough to annoy me and then runs back to hide before it can be squashed.” He chose the repellent insect deliberately, knowing it would insult Odette.
Her features tightened into a mask of fury. “You sniveling little overprotected prince. What do you know of cockroaches? You’ve never had to deal with the realities of real life.”
“I’ve had to deal with you.” Raul loosened the white-knuckled grip of his folded hands and decided to expand on Erica’s idea about paying attention to Odette to see if flattery worked. “What I don’t understand is why you threw away all you had accomplished in an attempt to punish my father. You built a small, struggling cosmetics company into an international powerhouse. You had wealth, respect, and authority. You were on a first-name basis with celebrities and heads of state.” He didn’t mention that it was her exclusive access to Caleva’s curative lily sap that had given her all that. A favor from his father.
Her posture changed as he spoke. Her back straightened, her chin lifted, and the insane glitter in her eyes subsided. For a few moments, he glimpsed the poised, assured woman he had known asTanteOdette. It gave him hope for his plan.
But her lips drew back from her teeth in a sneer. “Youwere the reason.”
He forced himself not to flinch as her words smacked him in the chest.
“You, looking so cocky and privileged in your perfectly tailored militia uniform.” She pointed at him, her chains clanking. “You, being fawned over by the whole royal family.You, being the focus of your father’s beaming pride. It should have beenmychild who Luis looked at like that.”
He pressed his lips together to stop from pointing out that it had been Odette’s choice to put her daughter up for adoption. That would not serve his purpose here.
Odette sat back with a malevolent grimace. “But you evaded my grasp because that cretin Dupont got tricked into kidnapping Gabriel instead. How did it feel to know that someone else took the punishment meant for you? That your cousin who you claim to love like a brother had his ear cut off because your cowardice let him take your place?”
He clenched his hands together so tightly they ached as Odette’s words struck him like thrown knives. His father’s warning blared in his mind. This woman might be insane, but she knew where to aim for maximum damage.
He took a deep breath as Erica’s voice from that evening on the mountain filtered through the agony searing through him. She did not blame him for letting Gabriel take his place. She wasn’t a royal, but she had upheld his decision as the right thing for the Prince of Caleva to do. The memory of her profound understanding steadied him.
Odette watched him with hungry eyes, clearly wanting a reaction. No matter how much it might help his plan, he refused to give her that satisfaction.
He forced his hands to relax. “You could never comprehend why Gabriel and I acted as we did.” He injected a note of contempt into his voice, but stopped short of further insult.
Disappointment clouded her face, and her voice lost its edge. “So what do you have to offer me, Little Prince?”
“Attention.” Raul let the word hang between them. He caught a flash of curiosity in her expression.
“I already have ways to get that,” she scoffed.
“But it’s infrequent, and you have to work very hard at it.” He stopped himself from twisting his ring. “When you’re not making trouble, we forget all about your existence.”
Her lips drew back in a snarl.“Cabrón!”
He had hit a nerve…which meant that Erica’s idea might work.
He hesitated for a long moment. If Odette agreed to his offer, he would have to come to this grim place regularly and let this terrible woman flay him with her ugly words. Even worse, because she was a madwoman, he had no guarantee that she would stick to her side of the bargain.
But if it worked, his family would be free of her extortions.
Swallowing against the bile rising in his throat, Raul unlaced his fingers and laid his palms flat on the desk.
“I will visit you here when my schedule permits, as long as you make no further trouble for my family. If you menace any member of the royal family in any way, my visits will cease forever. There will be no more negotiations.”
She went still. Not a rustle or a clink of chain indicated she was even breathing. He could see calculation in her eyes, but she gave no indication of her reaction.
“When your schedule permits? That could be every five years,” she scoffed. “You must swear to come monthly.”
