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“Your safety is the most important thing to me, Zephy. You are the future of Ironhelm… my future. I will kill anyone that—”
He didn’t finish his thought, but he didn’t need to. The notion struck terror in my heart. Could there be more threats to my life? And would they succeed next time?
Chapter15
Cade
Iwaited until Zephyrine was fast asleep before untangling myself from her arms and retreating to the palace corridors. The chaos had died down, except for the fact that no one had seen me, and the palace staff were going out of their minds wondering what had happened.
When the guards finally set eyes on me, relief overtook the excitement.
“You can’t just disappear after something like that, Cade!” Ryland exploded when I reappeared in the ballroom. “The entire security team is searching the kingdom for you.”
“I was ensuring that Zephy was safe, thus doing your job for you.” I stared at him forcefully until he looked away in embarrassment. “I want to see all the security footage, and I want extra cameras installed around Zephy’s quarters. I want guards protecting her at all hours. I’ve already got someone there for the first shift, but I’m putting you personally on the task of making sure she’s guarded.”
Ryland agreed, and I looked around the now empty room. The bear shifter’s corpse had been removed, much to my chagrin. “Where is he?”
“He’s been brought to the morgue for an autopsy. We’re trying to figure out what happened,” Ryland explained. “Maybe he was cursed.”
“Who was he?”
“A carpenter from the village,” Ryland replied. “He has no record to speak of and isn’t known to authorities.”
I frowned at the revelation, but Aradia materialized before I could pepper Ryland with any other questions.
“There you are!” the enchantress called, a coy expression on her face.
I fully suspected she had already known where to find me before she caught me there, but had wisely left me alone with Zephyrine.
“Here I am,” I agreed. “What do we know about this attack? Who was the bear?”
“A carpenter—”
“I don’t care what he does for work,” I snapped impatiently. “I want to know why he did it. Why would anyone come for Zephyrine unprovoked? She hadn’t even addressed the kingdom yet. There was no reason for anyone to come after her like that!”
“He was a fae,” she offered, shrugging as if that information was useful to me in any respect. Most of the kingdom’s population was faeries, except for the odd witch and warlock.
“And?”
She raised her ancient shoulders again and cocked her head toward me.
“There’s dark magic involved here,” Aradia explained.
I paled at the suggestion. “What is that supposed to mean, Aradia?”
“I can’t say for certain. But I can sense the dark magic in the air still. It lingers. Can’t you feel it, Cade?”
“It can’t be from Leonid,” Ryland said quickly.
“Leonid?”
“The fae,” he offered, sating my confusion. “The bear.”
I grimaced and looked from the Royal Guard to the enchantress. “Tell me what’s going on here. I need to give Zephyrine some answers, so she can sleep at night.”
Aradia gave me a pleased look, which I ignored as I turned my full attention back toward Ryland. “Put your best guards on Zephyrine now. A compilation of muscle and magic to fend off future attacks.”
“I’ll encase her in a shroud to keep her safe,” Aradia offered. “But depending on how strong this dark magic is and how many are involved, I can’t be sure the shroud will hold.”
