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She is so much more than she ever let on, but is she really a murderer?
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” I answer as honestly as I can.
Khijhana and I head back to the stables with Helga while Gunnar takes care of Willem’s body. It needs to be concealed until we can make a plan, but he doesn’t deserve to be stashed in a closet.
We’ve lost too much time already, and I refuse to waste more within the castle walls. All I can hope is that there are still tracks to follow.
It takes only a few minutes to pack and saddle Zola before we head toward the castle gates. The metal groans as the portcullis raises when we are still several meters away. My chest tightens, and I tug on Zola’s reins as two figures walk through the gate, heading straight toward us.
A hestrinn and a slighter, more feminine figure leading it.
I spur Zola forward, my heartbeat pounding in my ears, when the moonlight reveals the truth.
Instead of raven hair, tawny skin, and topaz eyes, I’m met with one of my own people. Silver-white hair adorns a fair face, and bright blue eyes glint forlornly in the wan moonlight.
It’s Sarah Agnes, the girl who Zaina insisted we bring home from the festival. She leads a very frazzled and riderless Gideon home.
Without my wife.
Chapter Eight
Einar
The only thing worse than knowing how much she played me for a fool is knowing that my people will pay for my mistakes if I can’t fix this now.
I refuse to let that happen again.
“Did she say anything?” I keep my voice neutral since the hestrinn is already clearly agitated as I question the girl.
“No, Your Majesty.” Sarah Agnes’ head is bent low, shame evident in her features.
“Go through the story one more time,” I demand.
“She asked if I would tie Gideon up outside the castle gates. She left her coin purse and told me to look out for him when he came back to the stables.” She sniffles. “I was anxious, though, and left the stables to look for him. I just wanted to make sure he was all right.” Her voice breaks. “That is all, Majesty. I swear it.”
Her story implies that Zaina never planned to come back.
What has that woman done?
Khijhana follows after us, and I don’t try to stop her, nor do any of my men. Chalyxes are extremely loyal, protective and dangerous if pushed too far.
Something we have in common.
I’m back on Zola within seconds before Helga and I take off in the direction Gideon was last seen coming from. North, toward the mountains.
But there is nothing in the north. Aside from Kensley Springs and. And the Alchemist.
Fury swells in my chest again. He was the one who had chosen her. He had arranged everything. Had he betrayed me, too?
The silent journey gives me too much time to analyze and dissect everything I know about Zaina. My mind snags on the inconsistencies of her character, the way she could be cold and unyielding as stone and then so vulnerable and almost...soft.
She is a talented liar.
“And I am a fool.” The words escape my lips as we fly through the snow.
Helga is good enough not to acknowledge the statement, but I don’t miss her sideways glances as we follow Gideon’s tracks further into the forest.
Towering spruce trees are little more than a blur as we barrel toward the mountains. I’m grateful that there wasn’t much new snowfall last night, that it’s fairly easy to follow Gideon’s trail.
