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Khijhana is anxious at my side, her tail flicking back and forth with her heightened nerves. I’m on edge, too, as we continue our search of the castle grounds.
Someone had to see her leave.
It doesn’t take me long to discover that Gideon is missing, and there’s no way the massive hestrinn could disappear without someone noticing. I am determined to find her. If I can do it quietly, I will.
I brief my most trusted guards, Gunnar and Helga. They are opposite sides of the same Jokithan coin, one as dark as the other is fair, but both with silver hair and pale blue eyes.
The twins have been in my life for a decade now, ever since I found them wandering the mountain pass, cold, alone, and silent as the night. They brought life to a dying castle as children, and they remain out of loyalty now.
We make quick work of questioning everyone without raising alarm, telling them that Zaina failed to return from her midnight ride.
I hate lying to my people. The words taste foul in my mouth.
Does it bother her to lie? Or does deceit come as naturally as breathing to her?
We search the castle grounds until I am absolutely certain that she is gone.
Of course she is.
As furious as I am, I can’t quite shake the feeling that something isn’t adding up. It’s as if I’m being bested at chess without seeing my opponent’s pieces on the board.
None of the moves make any sense.
It had taken me so long to figure out what I thought I knew about Zaina, but now even those things feel false. I storm back to her room and tear through her wardrobe to find that everything she owns is still here.
One cloak is missing, but the majority of her clothes hang in her closet, smelling painfully like jasmine and clove and betrayal. I tear open her jewelry box and find two folded letters inside. A quick glance over both of them leaves me with even more questions than answers.
And then, there is her ring.
The delicate silver band with a gleaming moonstone in the center, surrounded by diamonds. Picking up the delicate band, I turn it over in my hand. My fingers twitch, and my stomach tightens.
She took it off and left it here. Abandoned it.
Red blurs my vision, and it takes everything in me not to chuck the blasted thing across the room.
“My lord.” Helga’s voice pulls my attention away from the wedding ring. “You need to see this.”
Her voice is quiet, but I don’t miss the anxiety lining each word.
I don’t hesitate before following her into the passageway, down several halls, and around too many corners before she comes to an abrupt stop. Gunnar is already here, wrestling something large from one of the hidden closets.
It’s a body.
Helga raises a lantern to reveal a scaled face with wide, unblinking red eyes, covered in dry blood. Gunnar fights back a gag as he shakes his head. It takes me only a moment to recognize the man.
Willem.
I grind my teeth at the sight of the poor, reclusive nobleman’s corpse. I made it a practice of checking in with all of my people, but somehow he slipped through the cracks aftershearrived.
And now he’s dead.
Murdered.
“Damn it all,” I hiss, though I want to shout the words.
“Who do you think killed him?” Gunnar asks, panic evident in his eyes.
Immediately, I see Zaina at the festival, making a show of choosing the throwing stars. She hadn’t even looked at her target before sinking the weapon square in the center.
