Yes, Jade could work with this queen. With their like-minded goals, they would usher in a new era of their kingdom.
“My father has made it perfectly clear that he will not only continue this practice, but he praises it. He champions it.” The words came from between Arabella’s gritted teeth. “Lord Grannam had no reason to discontinue it either. Everyone’s scared. One instance over fifty years ago where a sorcerer convinced a king to step off his balcony and end his life, and we’ve sentenced every magic-wielder since to death.”
Arabella’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths as she reined in her rising anger and reset herself, sitting up straight in the chair again. But it wasn’t just Arabella who had surprised Jade. Her gaze flicked to Alanna, who watched her sister closely. A hidden knowledge lived behind those gray eyes.
“Lady Arabella, what did you discover that your father was responsible for eleven years ago?”
Jade asked with an innocent-enough tone, but the widening of Arabella’s eyes betrayed that she was not expecting it. “What do you mean?”
“I found a letter from you to Lord Grannam in his war room during one of my investigations. You said in the letter that you knew what your father was responsible for eleven years ago and you would never forgive him for it.”
Arabella sent her gaze to Alanna again, and a wordless conversation carried on between them. After a moment, Alanna gave the slightest of nods, and Arabella returned her attention to Jade.
“My father,” she began, her eyes focused on the table in front of her, “is a cruel, heartless man. I learned that about him in what he did eleven years ago. It’s why I fought so hard to bypass him as queen until recently. He...he forced me to back down.”
Jade waited with bated breath, her eyes flashing back and forth between Arabella, who still stared at the table, and Alanna, who didn’t move her gaze from her sister. “How? Why?”
Arabella chewed her lip for a moment before responding. “He convinced me that the information I tried to use against him would only backfire and cast me in a bad light as well. He said it would negate my entire mission of protecting sorcerers and sorceresses, so no one could ever know.”
Jade scooted to the edge of her seat, her heart hammering at a breakneck pace. “If it’s truly harmful to your future reign, you can rest assured that this secret will not continue past us and our commanders. After all, our duty is to serve those in the true line of succession.”
Her hands tight in her lap, Arabella lifted her face and inhaled slowly. She was scared. Another side of Lady Arabella that never made a public appearance.
“Eleven years ago, our aunt, Queen Cosette, and our cousin, Prince Artis, were killed in a fire while on holiday at their country home. That is the story everyone knows.”
Air froze in Jade’s lungs, and a lump formed in her throat.
“I uncovered a disturbing and painful truth about our family during this conflict as I dug into my father’s history of promoting the death of magic-wielders. As it happens, it came much closer to home than any of us ever knew.”
Arabella swallowed hard but didn’t waver. “My aunt, the queen, was a sorceress. She had kept her magic hidden from the king the entire time they were together. Then she had their son. He was much older when his magic first appeared, but it couldn’t be denied. They kept his magic hidden from the king too. Until one day, Artis lost control in front of my father. My understanding was that it was small, just a tiny slip, but it was enough to give him away.
“My father went to his brother, the king, to tell him what he had learned. It wasn’t hard for them to determine where Artis’s magic had come from. They confronted the queen, who was forced to admit she was a sorceress as well.”
Arabella’s expression hardened. “To their faces, the king told them to keep their magic under control and tell no one, but he and my father already had a plan in the works. The king, queen, and prince decided to go on holiday together, only the king was unable to attend at the last minute due to some ‘issue’ that had arisen. Queen Cosette and Artis went on. That was when the fire happened. But it wasn’t the fire that killed them.” Arabella clenched her jaw, then released a shuddering breath. “My father, with the king’s approval and encouragement, sent an assassin with poison to ensure they would die. Then he set the house on fire to cover up the plot and make it appear to be a tragic accident. Myfather”—she spat out the word—“had my cousin and aunt killed because he was too ashamed and afraid to have magic-wielders in the line of succession.”
A trembling started in Jade’s core and extended out to her fingers. She gripped her hands into fists to control the shaking as her heart pumped wildly, sending a reverberation throughout her body. Prince Reynauld, the man who was about to be crowned king, had orchestrated the murder of the queen and prince, and then covered it up?
Worse yet, he had not only suggested the idea to the king, but the king had gone along with it. He’d allowed for the death of his own wife and son at his brother’s prompting.
Jade couldn’t form words for any of the dozens of questions that occupied her mind. The shock had numbed her tongue. Theo, thankfully, could still manage to speak.
“King Mervyn went so far as to agree to the murders of his queen and his heir just because of the law that all magic-wielders are to be put to death?”
“Not solely because of the law,” Arabella answered, regaining a modicum of her previous composure. “According to the story my father told me, the king was angry and disgusted that a sorceress had ‘weaseled’ her way into the position of queen and then had the audacity to bear a sorcerer for a son. The king supposedly said they were both a disgrace to the crown and tohim. He said no one could ever know the royal family had been so tainted and that their line could not continue.
“That was why he willingly went along with my father’s plot. That was why my father said I couldn’t use this information against him, because I was prepared to. I have the evidence, and I was prepared to accuse my father before the entire kingdom so that he would never see the crown.” Arabella sighed, and her shoulders sagged. “But he said if I did, the same bad light would be cast on me, and I would bear the same weight of what he had done. The people would not be able to separate his actions from me, and it would look especially horrible given the platform I have been devoting myself to. I would come across as a hypocrite, or disingenuous, or worse.”
“But you had nothing to do with it,” Jade said, the unfairness of Arabella’s predicament loosening her tongue. “It was your father, not you. Surely the people would understand that and accept it, especially if you denounced his actions.”
With a small, sad smile, Arabella said, “I’m afraid you can’t understand, Captain Ni’ihm. My father is right. No one can ever know. It would change the appearance of the entire royal family. My position is already controversial. I would lose the support I do have. The people’s attitude would turn against us. It makes us appear weak, that we allowed such a ‘threat’ into our royal line at all. Enough people are still too afraid of magic-wielders to come close to accepting they almost had a sorcerer king.”
Jade sat with her mouth hanging open for a moment longer, but no more words came out. Arabella was right in that she couldn’t grasp the ramifications of having magic-wielders in the royal family. Even the possibility that the people would be unable to separate Reynauld’s actions from his daughter’s beliefs seemed a tad far-fetched to Jade, but whatever the prince had told Arabella had worked to keep her silent.
“Lady Arabella, I have to ask, given the significance of your role in this conflict...” Jade spared a quick glance at Theo before returning to Arabella. “Do you believe Lord Marchand was responsible for the murders?”
“I have no reason to believe otherwise,” Arabella answered with a casual shrug. “You’re the intelligence agents. I trust you apprehended the right person.”
Jade nodded in reply to Arabella, but before she could prepare another question, Alanna spoke.
