“Tallis,” he said, holding the lantern in his hand. “I assume you want a report on the princess.”
My gaze moved to the covered body on the table. “Yes.”
“That is not her.” He placed the lantern on the empty table. “The princess is already in the purification stage. We started wrapping this morning.”
The tension in my shoulders lessened, knowing that sweet Laoise was not laying on that table. “Cause of death?”
“Choking.”
“What?” Olivia and I said in unison.
Kolvar tilted his head at us. “Yes. I found a candy lodged in her throat. Very unfortunate.”
“That’s a lie!” Olivia flew off my shoulder. “The princess was poisoned!”
“Olivia,” I hissed.
The priest laughed. “Poisoned? I know your affinity for toxins is unparalleled, but the cause of death was undoubtedly asphyxiation. Pixies, such suspicious nuances.”
With a snarl, Olivia dashed forward, but I grabbed her. She bit my hand, but I ignored the attack. “I want the princess to be examined for any poison.”
“It cannot be done. Purification has already started.”
“That is an order!”
Kolvar shuffled forward. Keeping one hand on Olivia, I placed my other hand on the hilt of my sword.
“You seek blame where none exists,” he said. “Do not defile the dead with your accusations. You know our ways and they are sacred. The princess can not pass into the Never without being purified. Do you wish for her to turn into one of those vile darkthings?”
“Of course not,” I said through gritted teeth. “But if there was foul play, I need to know.”
“There was none. Whatever you thought might have happened did not. Her body showed all signs of choking, vomit blocked by the lodged candy, bluish tint around the lips, a cut on the side of her head where she fell—”
“That’s enough,” I cut him off, unable to listen anymore. Olivia had stopped trying to fight me and now tears streamed down her face. “Thank you for the report.”
Holding Olivia, I left, heading back up into the castle. The pixie cried, her shaking body lying across my hands.
Laoise was not some youngling with no sense. If she had choked on food, she would have run to the door where a guard would have assisted her. Yet, we could not dismiss what the priest said about the other signs.
When I arrived at the queen’s chambers, Anna opened the door, her already normally big eyes were wide and frantic. She quickly ushered me inside the room, which was quiet except for Ella who sat at the table sewing a quilt.
No sign of her majesty.
Before I could ask, Anna shook her head and put a finger to her lips, urging me deeper into the room toward the bookcases. She removed one of the books and clicked a lever. The wooden structure swayed open, revealing the queen’s secret passageway. Anna pointed into the dimly lit corridor.
“Close it behind me,” I ordered, and handed off Olivia to her sister.
The oil lanterns flickered shadows on the wall, providing enough light to follow the secret hallway which led through various areas of the castle. Breathing in the air, I followed the aromatic lily scent of the queen and followed the stone stairs to a lower level. The passageway split going in two directions. Knowing that the mistresses’ quarters were to the left, I hurried that way.
A few moments later I spotted the queen pressed against the stone, ruffling her navy dress and looking through an open hole the shape of a rectangular box that was no bigger than the queen’s head.
Voices filtered in and I moved beside her, quiet, wondering what she was looking at and why she was here. Leaning over, I peeked through the grated opening. Looking straight into the mistresses’ quarters like I suspected. Two of the sisters sat while Noelle, the one I always thought of as level-headed, packed a suitcase.
“How dare she,” Stephani said, her arms folded, glaring at an empty suitcase on the floor.
“She is mourning,” Noelle replied.
“She thinks we’re vile. Wait until she finds out the truth,” Bianca giggled. “If she only knew the king like we did, she would be the one cast out.”
