“Come on,” I muttered to myself, pulling out each book from the bookshelf to check for papers slipped between the titles.The books she collected weren’t helpful either.Nothing to point me in the right direction.I pulled out a book on advanced mathematics and a small painting stroked onto aged paper floated to the desk.I picked it up with careful hands.Ezrielle and my second-eldest sister, Evonnora, smiled back at me, Ezrielle a child at the time and Evonnora unmarried.I had been too young to notice much, but my uncle had said the two sisters had been close at one point.It was hard to imagine Ezrielle close with anyone, let alone any of our siblings.Perhaps she’d forgotten she had shoved the painting there.I doubted she found mathematics to be very interesting.
“Valeris.”
Analleia’s voice came out as an urgent whisper.
I strode across the room, faltering when I saw the hidden compartment she had found in the wall, marked by a design but expertly hidden within the matching stones.
A letter extended from her hand.I took it, my eyes scanning it quickly.
She peered up at me.“It’s a coronation speech.”
And full of the greatest nonsense I had ever seen.She was already planning her own coronation.I tilted my head, reading one of the sentences over again.
Our country reels from this tragedy, torn from end to end, my only hope is we will be able to unite again, bring our severed souls together.Let there be no more warring, no more bloodshed.Come to me, and I will hear you out.Bring me your burdens.
“What tragedy?”Analleia asked.
I scanned the rest of the letter, failing to find mention of whatever disaster she was referring to.I set it back inside the safe, closing the door after ensuring there was nothing of interest left to see.
Analleia moved on to the other room, continuing to search.Whatever Ezrielle was up to was nasty.
She may be a conniving hypocrite, but I had never dreamed she was downright sinister.What tragedy did she plan to enact?
A set of footsteps approached from down the hall and stopped in front of the door.
I heard the metal click of a key inside the lock.
And watched the handle turn.
Chapter Forty-Two
Analleia
Valeris was holdingback from me.My mind sought the answers to fill in the blanks.His brother’s murder meant the next oldest in line for the throne was Dionzella, but she was married.The eldest left unmarried was Zandyr, not Ezrielle.So why was she writing a coronation speech?Out of pure pride?
I retraced my steps through the room, seeking anything I might have missed before and digging underneath the mound of pillows lining her enormous bed.My side and shoulder ached.Every day the wounds got better, but they weren’t healing as fast as I needed them to.Which was why the thought of scaling the wall terrified me.
