The woman cringes against the wall. “Dane,” she whimpers. “He told me to leave a trail on your journey. I left scraps of my clothing when we stopped.”
“That’s a lie,” Jory says. “Dane is allying with the king of Incendar. We already know Draegonis is involved.”
Charlotte shakes her head quickly. “It was Dane. I swear it. Astranza needs Maddox Kyronan dead to keep up their end of the bargain.”
“What bargain?” says Ky. “He is bargaining withme.”
Charlotte falls silent again, and Ky draws the fire closer to her face. “I am not bound by the princess’s vow unless you tell the truth.”
“Dane is the one bargaining with Draegonis,” Charlotte gasps. “He’s killing you forthem.”
Ky goes very still.
“And me?” says the princess. “Did he send you to kill me as well?”
“No,” says Charlotte. A tear slips down her cheek. “They want you back. That’s part of the—”
“Enough.” Rancal surges off the ground to drive a dagger into her gut.
Jory shrieks. Ky fires his crossbow, but it’s not fast enough. Charlotte is already collapsing.
Jory catches her, easing her against the wall. “Charlotte,” she whispers. “Charlotte—I wish you’d told me—”
“Your Highness,” she gasps. “Forgive me. Please, forgive...”
Her voice trails off.
Jory’s face crumples. “She was supposed to be myfriend.I promised her.I promised her.”
The king looks down at the carnage, then looks to me. “I’ll deal with this,” he says, his voice low. “Take her back to your quarters. I’ll find you shortly.”
I nod, and he claps me on my good shoulder. He does it so casually, like I’m one of his soldiers, and of anything, that takes me the most by surprise.
But I have to shove that away and look after Jory.
Before I do, I turn back to the king. “Ky,” I say.
His eyes glance my way. “Asher?”
I put out a hand. “I’ve made do until now, but would youpleasegive me a weapon?”
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Princess
By the time we make it back to Asher’s quarters, I’m still trembling from everything that happened, and Asher wraps me up in his arms.
“How did that happen?” I say. “How did they get here? When did he convince Charlotte to do this?”
“Hunters are very skilled,” he says quietly. “And you’ve known Dane to be a snake for years. We should be more surprised that itwasn’tjust Draegonis.”
“So you think that’s true?” I say.
He sighs against me. “That your brother would double cross the king of Incendar? Yes.”
“Why go to all this trouble? He could have just killed him when he rode into Astranza.”
Asher draws back to think about that for a moment. “He wouldn’t know that Princess Victoria is...well, as she is. He might have feared retaliation ifhewere the aggressor. An assassin can be made to look like an accident.”
