AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you saying my father got himself killed?” Anger flared in me.
“Yes,” Casja said. She continued to speak calmly and did not seem frightened by my reaction at all. “Lord Merick was going to use him to lure you into Winter Castle. He did not want to become their pawn. He... I think he did it to spare his children.”
I stared at her. Father had died to protect us, but because of my failure, even that sacrifice had not worked the way he had intended.
“And yet, Fiona was taken,” I said. “I left father alone. It was the queen’s plan all along to lure us into a trap. The queen took Fiona and I couldn’t do anything to save her.”
“It was a trap?” Casja said.
I nodded. Holding onto facts helped now.
“Cari, the girl who spoke to Jasmine through the mind of the monster in the dungeon,” I said. “She had Jasmine under her control but we failed to realize it. She lured us right into the queen's trap, but Jasmine convinced her to change her mind at the last moment. Not before Fiona was taken though...”
“How did you find a way to change the monsters back into fae?” Casja asked.
“We don’t know,” I replied. “Jasmine did it. But it caused her to go into a deep sleep. I couldn’t save either of them...”
“You mean Fiona?” Casja asked.
I nodded.
“You couldn’t have saved her on your own,” Casja said. “But we can, now.”
I did not believe her. I had stayed with Jasmine and awaited news of Fiona. Perhaps I’d done it not because it was the logical thing to do, but because I was a coward. There was no way of knowing.
Father was dead. I could not comprehend what that meant.
“I’ll kill Lord Merick,” I said.
My anger needed direction. I could kill Merick and Lugh. I could kill the Seelie Queen for luring us into her trap. I could...
“He is already dead,” Casja replied.
Emptiness settled in me.
“What?” I asked.
I couldn’t even be glad to hear that my father’s murderer had died.
“Lord Lugh ordered Lady Queill to control Lady Xira so that she would kill Lord Merick,” Casja said.
“How?” I asked. “Why?”
“They disagreed with him,” Casja said. “He wanted to kill the lords and replace them with ones loyal to him. Lugh thought the best course would be to imprison them and keep their sons and daughters in check while they ruled instead of their fathers. And when Lord Merick killed King Duncan against their council, they decided he was not to be trusted.”
It was perhaps the most horrible thing I’d ever heard. Lugh was an evil man, but to order his own father’s death... That was unimaginable...
“How do you know all of this?” I asked.
“I was there,” Casja replied. “I was under Lady Queill’s mind control. I could do nothing to help the King.”
She had watched my father die.
“Did he suffer?” I asked.
“No, King Duncan died quickly,” Casja replied.
“Not my father,” I said. “Lord Merick. Did he suffer?”
