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“They killed the king.”
“It wasn’t me,” he argued, then toned down his voice to pleading. “Mother, listen to me. It was the crown prince. I have evidence.”
“Evidence of what, brother?” Nicholas interjected, already facing them. A smirk played on his lips as he spared a glance at Winter before directing his attention towards Nate. “Of you manipulating houses to get in with your plan? To carry out the murder of the father that you supposedly loved? Because we have all the evidence we need—”
There was a blur, then choking sounds as the smirk was wiped off Nicholas’s lips and he turned violet. Nate continued strangling him, the rage finally snapping out.
“You bastard! Do you think this is funny? Do you think you can get away with killing him?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about, brother—”
“Shut up—”
“Arrest him!”
The queen’s voice thundered in the room, louder than her usual soft tone and coated with steely command. A shudder ran down Winter’s system as the woman continued speaking while guards rushed to get Nate away from Nicholas. They pinned him down, knees pressing against his pressure points as he had done to Denison.
“Mother!” Nicola protested, scandalized as she hurried towards her brother. But more guards held her back and ignored her growling and glowering. Winter stepped forward, frantic when Nate began to redden.
“Your highness, it wasn’t him. He didn’t kill the king. If you could only let him explain, please—”
“They connived to murder my husband at the confession of Denison Rue, signed and sealed with his thumbprint. They were after the crown and are after my son next, and they already killed House Rue’s leader to get it.”
Amid the attack of negative vibes and shock, a sliver of something different came at her: triumph, a victory that felt so off and so strong. The amusement weaved into it took her aback, so separate from the tension unfettering from Nicholas. Her mind worked a mile a minute to untangle it from the rest. In slow motion, the direction it was coming from made itself known, and her heart dropped in her stomach.
The queen eyed her back, face a mask of anguish and the battle to be strong, but Winter couldn’t read a drop of it from the woman.
“You murdered them,” she whispered, body going numb as she recalled the first time they had met. The woman didn’t know her and had been kind. But during dinner…
The putrid hate slammed forward, a perfect match to the one she had felt before.Oh, God. Oh, no.
“You would accuse the queen of such foul words?” Nicholas clipped out, sneering. “Mother, I think we found the source of Nate’s rebellion.”
“She is the instigator but not the main culprit,” Helena agreed, voice trembling in effect. Then she visibly steeled it once more. “Take her to the dungeon. My son…take him to the other side.”
Her eyes widened. So did Nicola’s, the woman looking on with helplessness, vibe blank. There were several protests as she was jerked back aggressively, but it wasn’t until she was carried off her feet that she realized all of them were coming from Nate and he was fighting for his life, trying to get away from the bodies holding him down. Winter met his gaze, saw the blaze of fear, and knew she wouldn’t be alive in the dungeon for long.
She kept her calm, shaking her head at him. It didn’t last long as one of the guards hit Nate hard and he slumped to the ground, and all rational thought fled her as she lunged forward. But she was no match for the strong arms gathering her up and dragging her away.
“Let me go!”
The doors closed. Pain shot at her abdomen and she doubled over when it spread all over her body. The fight left her as a dizzying feeling seized her up before negative energy bombarded her once more and clued her in that she and the guards weren’t alone. Then the energy was gone and she was alone with them, farther and farther from the man who was at the mercy of his family’s betrayal.
“No!”
The shout had her head snapping up. Her knees gave way when the hands on her loosened, and she blinked back her blurry vision when another set of hands picked her up. Winter gawked at Hilda, who was ushering her away from the unconscious group of guards, then struggled.
“No. Nate. We need to go back for him—”
“You will die if you go back. We need to get you out first before word gets out.”
Grief petered out, but she gulped it in and tried to listen to reason. She glimpsed Maddox sliding in and out of view, clearing the way for them as they raced away from House Hendricks.
“Stephanie. Is she still alive? They killed her father.”
Hilda’s mouth thinned. “We heard. We don’t know. We have to—”
They halted when Maddox was thrown backward. A second later, a figure glissaded towards them, eyes rimmed red and fangs in full view. Her pulse stuttered when she recognized the vampire she had once followed with his lover.
