Andreas tugged on his gray vest, straightening his garments. Spots of blood had sprayed on his cheeks, and his ruffled hair spoiled his typical immaculate appearance. “Yes, of course. I will summon them immediately.”
Dylan ran his fingers down her cheek. “Are you okay?” His hazel eyes were full of sympathy.
Her heart gave a tiny wrench because she liked this man so much. She would stay here to fix her kingdom and find trustworthy wolves to replace the traitors on the council. He would travel home. She pushed her wave of melancholy away and scanned the chamber. “I noticed that each of the eight walls holds a rune. It occurred to me the symbols are of a similar size to the ones I have. Do you think those have always been here?”
“You think they’re fakes?”
“Yeah.” The glyphs buzzed against her chest, almost like a signal of approval.
“Only one way to find out.” Dylan approached the nearest one, knife in hand.
“You can’t remove those,” Maria said in horror. “They give the ruler and the council the ability to rule. I doubt you’ll be able to remove them. Long ago, a thief broke into the chamber. He tried to remove a rune. It zapped him. My grandmother told me he was comatose for three days before he recovered.”
“Except they haven’t been working lately,” Allegra said. “Go ahead, Dylan. Wait, do you want me to do it?”
Dylan passed his fingers over the rune and gingerly touched it. “I don’t feel anything wrong. There’s no current or weird sensation.” He applied the tip of the knife and seconds later held the glyph in his hand. “It slid out easily.”
“What?” Maria said. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“It looks like the runes you have, but the weight differs.” Dylan handed it to her.
She felt nothing, and Dylan was right. It was much lighter than those in her possession. A soft current ran down her arm without warning and settled in her palm. The fake rune shifted from black to a fiery red that seared her eyeballs with its brightness. She closed her eyes, and when she opened her fingers again, nothing remained but ash. She gaped at her hand, but there was no soreness. No wound. Instead, an insistent buzz emanated from her jacket pocket. She pressed her fingers to her breastbone. “Okay. I get it,” she muttered. “Hold your horses.”
Dylan grinned. “Talking to yourself is a sign of madness.”
“Remove the other runes from the wall,” she said. “Please.”
“My pleasure.”
“Don’t let her do that,” Gabriel ordered. “Stop her.”
Allegra cocked her head, surveying the room and the council members. “When I was a child, this room shimmered with a soft green. I’d forgotten that until I saw the ring’s glow.”
Gabriel scowled. “Those bastards took the ring instead of giving it to me.”
“The jewel is only part of the spell,” Allegra said, taking out the runes. The first and second glyphs remained onyx, but the third radiated a soft green. Walking over to the wall, she pressed the green rune against the spot where the false one had sat. The rune glowed a deeper green before returning to its original color. Allegra could’ve sworn the building sighed. She glanced over her shoulder and saw from the others’ reaction that it hadn’t been her imagination.
“Replace the other runes,” Dylan said. “I think they’ve been waiting to come home.”
“I don’t understand. Why did Pierre give the runes to me with no explanation?” Allegra whispered to Dylan.
“Did something happen around the same time?” Dylan asked. “Something that might’ve changed the course of tradition?”
Allegra placed the second rune in its correct position, and this time a soft blue glowed. She replaced the other runes individually until she’d returned all eight to their original positions.
“Did anything happen when I was sixteen?” Allegra asked Maria.
Gabriel snarled, and the room pulsated with color. Andreas returned with four palace guards, and the colors vanished when they entered the room.
“Take them to the dungeon and hold them until we formally charge them,” Allegra said.
“Leo and I will go with them. You don’t need us, right?” Isabella asked.
“No. Thank you.” Allegra turned her focus back to the remaining council.
“Maria? Andreas? What happened when I was sixteen? I wasn’t here because my parents sent me to boarding school. I seldom returned home. Pierre gave me these runes and told me to hide them and not to tell anyone.”
Maria and Andreas exchanged a glance before Maria spoke. “There were rumors that your father had an affair, and a child resulted.”
