The Golden Duchess (#3 in the GOLDEN series)

• T W E N T Y - S E V E N • part two: Bonus Chapter

"So it is not true, correct?" Sébastien felt his voice squeezing up his throat and out of his mouth, as if it were a living thing seeking to escape his being.

He'd spent the better part of the day hunting Antoine down, needing an explanation from him. After his announcement the evening before, and his sudden departure from the Dining Room, he'd been impossible to track, going completely incognito.

Sébastien had needed the night to ponder things—and to think of how to continue to reassure Céleste while not knowing for certain that anything would be all right—but upon waking that morning, he knew he'd need to confront Antoine, to figure out what was really going on.

His search was fruitless; Antoine had all but disappeared from court, and wasn't at his usual I need alone time places.

But to Sébastien's delayed luck, Antoine had eventually come to him. He'd been waiting by Sébastien's door when Sébastien returned from another pointless exploration of the grounds.

Without hesitation, Sébastien had shoved him into his room and slammed the door behind him. He'd thrust Antoine into a seat and paced before him, more anxious than he'd ever been in front of his older brother.

"Well?" Sébastien returned to the present, to his slumped, sulking King half-coiled in the cozy couch. "Answer me!"

Antoine scrubbed his face, and though his expression was wary, wrinkled, his voice was aggressive. "How many times must I tell you? No, it is not true."

Sébastien scoffed. "This is the first time you have told me, in fact, because I have been unable to find you all day to ask you about it! Who else has attacked you with this question, hm? Since you seem so apt at dodging it." He slowed his paces and kneeled before his brother. "What in the devil is going on?"

Turning away to avert his gaze, Antoine sighed. "I am avoiding everyone, not only you." He released another sigh, this one more pronounced, his body deflating as the air escaped his lungs. "I do not know how to maintain this nonsense without screaming or ripping out someone's throat, Séb."

Sébastien gulped—he had noticed Antoine's temper soaring out of control lately, more than it ever had. It was unlike him, and yet a small part of Sébastien had always expected him to take on that particular trait of their mother's. The irresistible need to be angry, disappointed in everyone, and to wish for violence. Sébastien and Jules hadn't inherited it—though Jules had many of their mother's other traits—so it was a matter of time before such behaviors manifested in Antoine or Cordelia.

And Cordelia would never want to resemble Mother.

"Why hide behind this lie, then? Actually," Sébastien stood up and straightened his back, "why lie at all? Do you have any clue why Adelaide would say such a thing when more than half the court knows damn well the two of you have not slept together in months?"

Though his gaze narrowed, likely in offense at such a private comment, Antoine didn't make any abrupt gestures nor did he give any hint of his emotions bracing to spew out in the form of insults. Sébastien was prepared for anything, but wasn't equipped for handling his brother's bulk, exhausted as he was from trying to track him down.

"It was forced on me, as you can imagine. Warped into my mind, twisted into a tale that led me to believe it might have been possible and she might have been pregnant for months."

"Months?" Sébastien held in a snort, but shook his head. "Her stomach is flat as a wall! I may be a man, but even I know that stays can only conceal so much—she would look ready to burst from her dress and her breasts would be—"