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“Halt! Lay down your arms! In the name of the archduke, I command you!”
People glanced up, pointed, gasped. The cry was taken up, swelling through the crowd. “Halt! Halt in the name of the archduke!” the people echoed, the chant growing louder as the fighting stopped, and the multitude of the throng took up the cry.
Duke Armand, having been carried down to this balcony where traditionally he had stood countless times to speak to his people, summoned the strength to rise, with Nicholas’s and Marcus’s help, and wave at the stunned watchers below.
A joyous shout went up from the crowd.
“Duke Armand lives! Duke Armand lives!”
“And Julian the usurper is dead!” Nicholas called down, standing sword in hand at the rail. “All men loyal to the true duke, throw down your arms. The false and evil reign of Julian is over!”
Arianne’s heart thundered as she watched what happened next. The will to fight seemed to drain out of Julian’s soldiers like tidewater receding. Some ran—and under Nicholas’s orders, the men bearing the hawk banner reluctantly permitted them to flee the gates. But most of the people in the courtyard cheered and then stared up at the balcony in awe, as Duke Armand, with Nicholas on one side and Marcus on the other, began to speak.
Hushed silence fell. The duke spoke in a raspy voice that yet carried down to his people.
“I hereby proclaim that my firstborn son, Nicholas, is empowered to act on my behalf as your new archduke—to unite the land of Dinadan once more!”
A roar rose up from the multitude. The people were cheering. Tears pricked Arianne’s eyes, and her heart swelled with happiness as she watched Nicholas ease the old duke back into his chair.
“Fealty to Archduke Nicholas!” Sir Castor shouted from the bailey and dropped to one knee.
“Fealty to Nicholas!” went round the cry, and then, as Arianne watched in mounting relief and joy, the whole assembled throng knelt, lifting their faces to Nicholas and the old duke.
Even the gypsy on the scaffold knelt. Arianne saw the smile of satisfaction flash across her face.
A short time later, Duke Armand rested upon his own bed, in the grandness of his own former chambers. Outside, the cheers could still be heard. “Long live Archduke Armand! Long live Duke Nicholas!”
Arianne and Marcus and Katerine retreated to an anteroom to allow father and son a few moments of privacy for their reunion. But they returned when a steady stream of soldiers and courtiers presented themselves to Nicholas, awaiting his orders.
A doctor was summoned for the old duke, and then Nicholas announced that he and Marcus were needed below. Men of both their kingdoms awaited instructions.
Marcus stared at Nicholas, then at Arianne, and grinned.
“Not a bad day’s work,” he said. “Little sister, you have done well. If not for your efforts to find him, this rapscallion might not have arrived to free me from the dungeon—I’d have missed all this day’s festivities…”
“Festivities!” Katerine exclaimed with a shudder.
Marcus grinned at her and kissed her hand.
“If I hadn’t arrived, your sister would have found a way to free you.” Nicholas’s gray gaze was fixed intently upon Arianne’s sparkling face. “She is the most determined woman I’ve ever met.”
Marcus chuckled. “Aye, she is determined.”
“And the most courageous.”
“Well…”
“And the most beautiful.”
Marcus suddenly glanced back and forth between his sister and his friend. There was no mistaking either of their expressions. They might have been the only occupants of the castle.
He flashed a surprised grin at Armand, who raised his eyebrows.
“Well, then…” Marcus began, but Nicholas cut him off.
“We’ll have the wedding at the same time as the coronation,” he announced.
“Wedding!” Marcus and Katerine burst out together.