The Mad Princess and the Dying Prince novel Chapter 14

"Raised in the countryside?" Matron Cecily let out a sigh of relief, only for her anxiety to immediately spike again. Lord Beaumont had a daughter hidden away in the country?

"I leave the arrangements to you. I will rest for a moment, then ride for the palace to have the king issue a royal decree." As Jareth spoke, his long fingers absentmindedly brushed over his chest.

Right there, an icy-cold hand had once touched him.

The girl who claimed she could save his life—

She was rather amusing.

"Your Highness, Physician Finch has arrived."

Jareth looked toward the doorway as Finch hurried in.

"Your Highness!"

The same physician who had been so arrogant and explosive in front of the Beaumonts now looked as though he might burst into tears at the sight of the prince.

He had truly believed he would never see the day Jareth returned to the Royal Capital. Yet here the prince was, and miraculously, Finch himself was no longer standing at death's door!

"Finch. It has been years. Are you well?"

"I was terribly unwell, Your Highness, but now I am quite alright!" Finch said, his voice trembling with excitement.

Jareth paused. "Oh?"

Finch stepped closer. The Steward and Matron Cecily, sensing the shift in tone, tactfully withdrew from the room.

Once they were alone, Finch's expression turned dead serious.

"Your Highness, did you send me to treat Lady Lucia because you knew how extraordinary she was?" He knew it. Even as a youth, Jareth had been utterly ruthless. Why would he suddenly display such random kindness?

"Extraordinary?" Jareth looked at him.

Did Finch need saving, too?

"More than extraordinary—it is utterly mystical! I have been in a daze the entire ride back."

Finch recounted the events in vivid detail, pressing a hand to his own forehead.

Even the notoriously ill-tempered physician now looked ready to murder anyone who dared cross her.

Truly impressive.

And by telling him this so directly, Finch was subtly warning him not to be unkind to the girl, wasn't he?

Finch then brought up House Beaumont.

"Lord Alistair abandoned Lady Lucia in the country for a decade without a second thought. Now that they've brought her back, they treat her like dirt. They actually shoved her into a ruined shack!"

"A ruined shack?"

Finch immediately launched into a vivid, scathing tirade against the Beaumont family.

No one knew better than he did just how petty and fiercely vindictive the man sitting before him could be. By offending Jareth's interests, House Beaumont had absolutely doomed themselves!

"But Lady Lucia is brilliant. Weak as she was, she used my presence to force them into changing her room. Still, her injuries are severe. She desperately needs meticulous care by her side."

He purposely left out the fact that her head wound was clearly meant to be fatal.