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At some point, Hayk had moved from squeezing my arm to holding my hand. I was desperately glad he had. I needed the support.
I squeezed his hand back and met Magnus’s eyes, pretending that he was the only one listening as I said, “General Rufus has plans to destroy the mountain pass leading to the Old Realm. He believes that if he destroys that, it will cut the old kingdom in two. All communication between the frontier and the Old Realm will cease, and it will take years, maybe as much as a decade, to clear and rebuild the pass.”
“Lies!” Zendaya shouted, but when I glanced to her, there was terror in her eyes. “It…it’s all lies. It must be. The king will protect us. He will send his army….” Her frantic words turned into a despairing squeak.
“What you say is impossible,” Kendrick picked up where she left off. “We would have had word if General Rufus turned against our king. The king is coming to save us. He will…he will punish you all.”
“And when was the last time you heard from your king?” Lord Vikhrov asked.
“It was…he was….” Kendrick shifted from one foot to another, his breaths coming in quick, shallow pants as the truth closed in on him. “King Julius has been busy,” he said, his voice thin and frantic. “He has not had the time to send missives to….” His words ran out, just as Zendaya’s had.
“Yes,” Magnus said, leaving me to march down the hill to Kendrick. “My little brother does tend to forget to write when he is busy mangling the kingdom our uncle left to him.”
Kendrick and Zendaya weren’t the only people shocked by Magnus’s revelation. Ivor Lobe and most of the guards shifted to face Magnus with varying degrees of shock as well.
“You are King Julius’s brother?” Ivor Lobe asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Magnus said. “But I trust you will not hold that against me. I haven’t seen the sniveling ass in nearly two decades.”
“No! This is impossible,” Zendaya gasped, still clutching her pendant.
“You think so?” Magnus asked. He fumbled to undo the top few buttons of his coat, then pulled out a chain from which dangled the seal I’d seen on the boat that bore his family’s sigil of a hawk. It had belonged to Hadrian the spy, but Zendaya didn’t know that.
Zendaya shrieked and clapped a hand over her mouth. She stared at Magnus with huge eyes before shocking me to pieces by dropping to kneel at Magnus’s feet.
Kendrick worked his mouth wordlessly for a few seconds, staring between Magnus and his wife. His look of utter disbelief was almost comical, and I had a hard time not laughing from pure astonishment as he, too, dropped to his knees and bowed his head to Magnus.
Magnus had no qualms at all about laughing loudly. “Well, this is an unexpected turn,” he told Lord Vikhrov. The torchlight around him caused shadows to dance across his face that made him look downright maniacal as he laughed. “What an interesting ending to your spy troubles.”
Lord Vikhrov looked as though he didn’t have the first idea what to do. “I never would have imagined that my own daughter….” He didn’t finish his sentence either.
And really, I didn’t blame him. The whole thing had come to such a bizarre climax, and perhaps a conclusion, that no one seemed to know what to make of it or what to do.
“Is there somewhere you can lock them up?” Lefric asked into the nearly silent garden. “I mean, there’s probably a great deal more to be sorted out, but this is a start?”
“Yes,” Ivor Lobe said, recovering first. “They should be confined to the Arzumanyan estate until the full extent of their treachery can be found out.”
“Or prison,” Lord Vikhrov added, glancing sadly at his daughter. He shook his head, as if he still couldn’t believe she had been a part of the conspiracy.
A few more awkward beats passed before Lefric said, “Is that it, then? Have we solved the murders and foiled the spy conspiracy? Is it really over?”
“It would appear so,” Magnus said, still laughing. “I would assume this is now an internal matter for the leaders and people of Good Port to sort out, unless you require help, Lord Vikhrov.”
“No help will be needed,” Lord Vikhrov said in a low, dangerous growl. “Guards, seize these traitors. We will escort them back to the Arzumanyan estate and have the entire family confined there.”
“I will accompany you,” Ivor Lobe said. “And I will send my men to alert Tobias that we will need several of his officers to both guard and search the estate.”
“It must be done,” Lord Vikhrov said.
With those words, Lord Vikhrov, Ivor Lobe, and several of the guards departed through the harbor gate, and that entire chapter of the turmoil of the frontier was over.
ChapterThirteen
All of us who were left inside the estate deflated a little once the gate was closed behind Lord Vikhrov and the others. There was a good deal of relief from most of us, but Lefric and Billie looked disappointed that it was over.
That alone was enough to make me feel as though things were on a swift path back to normal.
Whatever normal was.
