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Prologue
It was dark and cold down in the cellar, only a few torches flickering orange light onto my father’s lifeless body. He was laid out on a high, wooden table in front of me.Lord and Lady Fellsbruck had paid their respects, then left. Now it was just the two of us. He had begun to smell during the ride down here. I almost covered my nose, then told myself to show him more respect than that.
I stood there in utter silence, my face unemotional, yet tears ran down my cheeks like a river. It was impossible to wrap my head around any of this. How could a man so lively and strong be reduced to such a pale, lifeless form?
Stepping closer, I placed my hand against his cheek.
Ice cold.
I withdrew it and held it next to my hip again, just as lifeless as he was.
“Oh, Father.”
He looked peaceful, as if he were sleeping. No sign of a fight or struggle. Had it been his heart?
“My Queen.” Dieter’s voice tore me out of my thoughts. He carefully opened the door to the large cellar of the Fellsbruck castle—just enough to peek through with his box-chinned face and his eye with the black patch over it. It was the coolest room in the whole compound, the very room where the Fellsbrucks would temporarily keep their own deceased family members until a funeral was arranged.
“Come in,” I said, wiping my tears away.
“The first doctors and scientists have arrived. Should I tell them to wait?”
I shook my head.
Dieter bowed and remained a moment longer, staring at my father.
“King or beggar, we all meet the same fate,” he said. “Yet some will be missed more than others.”
Then he left. I took another long look at my father, the man who had finally welcomed me back into his life only a day before he was retaken from me. This time without a proper chance to prove to him who I could be.
Taking in a long, shaky breath, I composed myself. This would be the last time I would be able to see him like this. Soon he would be in the hands of the scientists to do with as they pleased. It was a horrid thought that would keep me awake at night, and yet it was necessary in order to find justice so he could rest peacefully.
“Farewell, Father.” I almost left but then turned to look at him once more. “Even though I didn’t know how to show it, I still loved you all these years. More than you will ever know.”
With a heart heavy and painful in my chest, I made my way up from the cellar back to the feast hall, where Lord and Lady Fellsbruck were waiting for me. The whole castle had a dark and medieval touch to it, like everything in the North. Life so close to the border had left its mark on them. Both were black-haired with blue eyes, their clothes outdated yet made of silk. Maybe twice my age, they had lost both their sons to disease.
“My Queen,” Lord Fellsbruck said with a quick bow. “Let me express my deepest condolences once more.”
“Thank you for your kind words and for allowing me to let my father”—what? Be cut open in a dark cellar?—“find justice here.”
Lord and Lady Fellsbruck exchanged nervous looks. They were loyal but religious to the deepest core. They were suspicious of the practice of medicine and science, but there was no time to drag my father any farther. His body needed to be examined as soon as possible. As a kingdom that supported and nourished science, these examinations were not uncommon—to the more educated mind, that is.
I turned to Dieter, who was standing by the door.“Bring them in.”
He nodded and, moments later, a group of older men walked in. They lined up in front of me, then bowed.
“Are these all?” I asked, counting eight.
“For now,” Dieter said.
I studied each of them. They were all on the heavier side, their fine clothes reflecting the wealth and status they enjoyed in my kingdom, except for one, a younger man dressed in wool pants and a shirt, his dark hair and eyes suggesting he was of Middle Eastern origin.
I stopped in front of him. “Who are you?”
The man bowed. “Malick, My Queen.”
“A man who shouldn’t be here,” one of the older doctors said. He was shaped like a pyramid; his shoes were silver silk.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
