“Where is she?” I whispered, pushing my chair back.
“Sit.”
“Where is she?!” I screamed, causing Sainte to jump.
He grabbed me before I could run to the door. I couldn’t fight him. Instead, I held myself, trembling with rage as he gripped my arm.
To his credit, Anderz didn’t flinch or look surprised. His infuriating calmness somehow fueled my fury. If my brother harmed a hair on her head, I would kill him. I would rip out his heart and feed it to the pigs.
“She is safe in her rooms, as well as Sir Ethyan.”
His words did nothing to calm the dark creature inside me thirsting for blood.
“What did he do to her?!” I hissed through clenched teeth, my mind racing with horrifying possibilities.
“Please sit.”
“No!” I snapped, refusing to comply. “Tell me what he did to her. I will have his head! You don’t get to–”
“Actually, my petulant princess, I do,” he cut in, his tone dripping with condescension. “You forget you are not regent. Here, you are a pawn, like all the rest. Here, without us, you have no power.”
A red haze clouded my vision. “I trusted you!”
I tried to wrench my arm from Sainte’s grasp. He grunted as I swung a fist at his chest, but he took the hit with no complaint, pulling me close and wrapping himself around me.
“Yet,” he growled in my ear, his grip tightening as I struggled against him. “You have no poweryet.”
I panted, more from restrained fury than exertion. Stilling in his arms, I glared at Anderz. “What did he do to her?”
“As a ruler, you will receive ill tidings,” he said, gesturing to the chair. “Your heart will ache with news of war, famine, and destruction. You must learn to control your anger and use it to your advantage. To act out in wrath will lead to irreversible mistakes for you and all of Wynterborne. Now, sit.”
I shrugged off Sainte’s grasp, then seized the chair from the floor. After slamming it in place, a snarl lifted my lip as I sat, bracing my elbows on my knees.
“Tell me.”
“Your brother did nothing she was not willing to suffer.”
My face closed off in a frown, lip curling in repulsed confusion.
She bedded my brother?
Impossible. Lyana was no prude. She was quite free with her body, but touching Adastrus? Never.
“What are you talking about?!”
Anderz rubbed his jaw, as if his next words pained him. “Lady Lyana cares for your brother’s Valahant.”
“She loves Grimm,” I said.
“Which makes this all the more tragic.”
I slapped my hand on the table. “What happened?!”
“I will be blunt. There’s no easy way to relay this. Sit back, close your mouth, and listen.”
I bared my teeth, drawing a deep breath. With my nails biting into my crossed arms, I tilted my head, daring him to go on.
“Lady Lyana lingered in your brother’s presence. Her purpose was to keep an eye on his Valahant, but she caught his eye. Urien and I warned her. Sir Ethyan swore he wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Adastrus met with her, dined with her for two nights. I can safely assume she went because of her affection for Grimm, yet he spun a web of lies to trap her.”
