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Madeline? He always knocked on her door, not the other way around.
He hurried to the door and flung it open.
“Ray?”
His second-oldest son’s blue eyes were stormy. Something was wrong.
“There’s been an incident.”
The hair prickled on the back of his neck. “What kind of incident?”
“Madeline was running around the lake loop.”
“By herself?”
He nodded shortly. “She convinced Captain Levi and Lieutenant Mason to give her some space, then come check on her halfway through the loop.”
“Is she all right?”
Ray nodded, serious as always. “Banged up, but he didn’t rape her, and she’s acting very tough and trying to unselfishly convince me that none of my men are at fault.” He lifted both of his hands. “She’s Madeline.”
“The man didn’t …” Nolan’s mouth went slack, and his stomach revolted. He wanted to find whoever ‘he’ was and pummel the man. “Who dared touch her?”
“Jensen has him in custody. Levi pursued and caught him. We’ll have answers soon.”
“Where’s Madeline?”
“In her suite.”
Nolan clasped his son’s arm before rushing past him. He had to get to her, comfort her, make her promise she’d never go running alone again.
“Dad …” Ray’s voice stopped him.
He pivoted, impatient to go to Madeline.
“From what I gathered, it was about you. The guy was trying to get her to commit to lure you away from your guards. He also said some foul things, like he wanted to see how the future queen tasted.” Ray’s mouth and shoulders were tight.
Nolan froze. “He hurt her to get to me.”
“I believe so.” Ray looked him over. “I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault, son.” It was Nolan’s fault. He had put Madeline at risk because of his role in life. Anne had been killed for the same reason. His vision felt cloudy. What if Madeline had been killed?
“Levi and Mason should never have let her go alone,” Ray said, oblivious to the churning in Nolan’s gut. “Four different guards stopped her and allowed her to leave by herself. Madeline is very convincing and an authority figure, but Mum knew better. She would’ve never …” He broke off and clenched his fists.
Nolan could only stare at Ray. Anne knew better, but she’d snuck out of the castle without guards on that fateful winter night to try to salvage a lifelong friendship, and she’d been killed.
“Apologies. Madeline isn’t the queen, and I don’t want to compare her to mum, or bring up ...” He studied the windows behind Nolan. Then his gaze swung back to Nolan’s face, and his blue eyes were as serious as ever. “But you understand how safety works, especially for you and mum, for T and Jenn. When we don’t follow those protocols ….” He shrugged and thankfully didn’t spell it out.
“I understand,” Nolan managed. He knew what happened. Oh, how he knew.
“I know you do.” Ray clenched his fists again, a common thing when he was worried or upset. “It’s easy to see how you feel about Madeline. Can you convince her to always keep guards with her?”
Nolan stared at his son. The general of Augustine. Ray took everyone’s protection very seriously, and he was fabulous at protecting their family and their country. The Rindlesbachers had thrown them for a loop with their brilliant scheming, but recently it had seemed the kingdom was safe and settled. Nolan had wrongly assumed they could relax a bit.
Why would some man go after Madeline to get to him now? Was it tied to parliament’s weird accusations and Naomi Rindlesbacher? They had to get to the bottom of this and keep Madeline safe, but he understood more than most that ditching guards wasn’t acceptable. If only he’d woken the night Anne had slipped out of the castle. If only the guards had been more diligent. If only Leslie hadn’t been manipulated and brain-washed by the Rindlesbachers. He could list ‘if onlys’ for hours, or he could help Madeline understand how important her safety was to him. To all of them.
“I’ll talk to her,” he assured Ray.
