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I should not feel this pain any more. Edgar was dead now, and my father and mother had finally been avenged. I should not feel like this again. Edgar was gone, and there was no way he could harm anyone in my family any longer. He could not harm me. There was no cramped space underneath a bench, and the screams in my head were not real. I knocked my head against the stone to try to dislodge the memories from my mind and focus on the present.
Alexandra? Where are you?
My hands shook, and I tried to ball them into fists to make them stop, but it didn’t work. I could barely draw breath, and when I did, I could smell blood and sweat and death all around me. Was she here? Had they killed her?
“Do not touch him,” I heard someone say, “lest you have no regard for your own life. Give him a few moments.”
I became aware that my hand, still clenched into a fist, was slamming repeatedly into the limp body of the dead king on the floor. I cried out and pushed myself back to the wall, forcing my fists into my eyes as I tried to erase the images in my mind.
After some time had passed—seconds, minutes, I wasn’t sure—I opened my eyes slowly to see Parnell standing a few feet from me with both Erik and Rylan behind him. One of his arms was held out to the side, blocking young Erik’s advance.
&nbs
p; “My king?” Parnell tilted his head to one side and took a half step forward.
I tried to inhale slowly, but my body did not obey my commands.
“Branford.” This time I felt his hand lightly on my arm, and I met his gaze.
“I have to find her,” I said quietly. “I have to find her now.”
“We shall,” Parnell said.
I looked at Edgar’s corpse on the ground and watched, fascinated for a moment, as his blood spread across the floor. Who else would know where she was hidden? If the dungeons and outlying buildings were all empty, where else would she be?
“Is there no sign?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“None, my king.” Parnell hesitated. “We have been through all of the castle and the surrounding areas. They must have her hidden somewhere else.”
“Where?” I turned and stared him in the eye. “Where is she?”
“The rest of the royal family is in the throne room,” Parnell informed me. “One of them has to know.”
“Whitney,” I said with a nod. “Whitney will have known about it all along.”
“Then let us get the information you need from her.”
I looked around a moment, and I noticed both Rylan and Erik had moved out of earshot. I leaned close to Parnell and spoke quietly in his ear.
“What of Greysen?”
“No sign of him,” Parnell said. His voice was grim. “He would not have fought against your forces, and I would have expected him to show himself by now, just as Rylan’s spy has done.”
“He should be here,” I said in a similar tone. “What if he was discovered?”
“Then there is nothing we could do for him now,” Parnell said, and I knew he was right.
“To the throne room?”
“Yes, my king.”
The rest of them were there—Queen Margaret, her two daughters, and her youngest son. Margaret and Whitney were both bound and held by a guard, but the twins only had their hands tied behind their backs and cloth secured across their mouths. They sat on the floor near one of the regal thrones. Jared struggled against his bonds, but he could not loosen them.
“Your husband and Prince Gage are dead,” I told Margaret. “You will all die soon if the whereabouts of my wife is not revealed.”
“You are insane,” Margaret yelled, “just like your father! You have no idea what you should do for your kingdom, which was made most obvious when you refused to unite us! All of this blood is on your hands!”
“And there will be a damn lot more of it if you don’t answer me!” I screamed into her face. “Where is my wife?”
