Who was responsible for this madness?
I didn’t just want answers. Ineededthem.
Three daughters gone in less than a year.
Kyros had always been kind. It had been three decades since he had saved me from a cruel marriage. We were happy once and then everything changed. Now our past, which was once filled with beautiful memories, would be a grieving darkness I’d never be able to escape from.
I wiped my eyes and stood. There would be time to cry, but not now. If I allowed this weakness to fill my heart and my thoughts, Kane would never be safe.
He could be next.
No, I cannot allow that.
I must think on what I should do.
There must be something.
Heading toward the bath chamber, I ripped at the string of my nightgown, undoing the lace and slipping out of the silky covering.
“Anna!” I yelled, hoping my pixie servant was close by. I had ushered her and her sisters away when we found Laoise. Seeing them sob at my side made it even more unbearable.
“Anna!” I screamed again, this time with more desperation.
“Here, your majesty.” She flew in through the open window, her gossamer wings fluttering a trail of golden glitter.
“Help me get this off,” I said, looking at the dirt caked around my fingernails.
“Of course.”
Her two sisters flew in after her.
The three pixies had been with me as long as I could remember. Anna with her reddish gold curls, Ella with her deep brown eyes and matching hair, and Olivia, whose dark countenance and scowl didn’t fit with the other two. Though they were my handmaidens, I saw them as much more, and knew that Laoise’s death pained them as much as it did me.
All three followed me into the bathroom. I sat on the quilted bench by the porcelain tub while Olivia turned on the water. Ella, who always wore her hair braided to differentiate herself from her sisters, grabbed a washcloth from the table and dipped it in the nearby basin. She came over to me, taking my hand that was half the size of her entire body. Anna grabbed my other hand and the two furiously scrubbed away the dirt.
I sat, not wanting to think or remember the fear in Laoise’s unblinking eyes. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Had Catriona's beloved horse really got spooked and thrown her, breaking her neck? Had Sorcha's true battle been against more than a strange illness the kingdom's priests could not diagnose?
Was this my fault?
A dark curse?
Punishment from the All Father for Kyros killing King Axias and taking the throne and becoming a surrogate father to my girls?
“The water is ready,” Olivia said.
Moving in slow motion, the world passing in a haze, my dear friends ushered me into the warm bath. I stepped in, sliding all the way down until my head rested against the cold tub rim, my nose just above the surface. I bent one knee, popping it out of the water. Anna fluttered over and sat on top of it.
She watched me with big, sad blue eyes.
There were no words to express this pain.
“Someone murdered Laoise, and they must be caught,” Olivia said, suddenly causing Ella to hiss at her, revealing sharp teeth.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Why do you think that?”
“Olivia is just being paranoid,” Ella said calmly. “There’s no proof of anything.”
The two pixies glared at one another. I’d known them long enough to understand when they had a secret they did not want to share. “If you know something—”
