Fuck.
He thought back on the months of increasing distance between him and Val. How much Val had changed ever since he had started protecting the princess. His refusal to tell Tristan anything.
Val’s words came back to him.It’s nothing I can discuss…. What did that mean?
He remembered his friend’s strangely obsessive vigilance, the way he seemed to be looking for danger at all times, even before they’d left the palace.
He didn’t want it to be true. The very thought filled him with sickening horror, sending his beast into a frenzy of agitated discomfort, his scales flickering restlessly on his wrists.
Val might, in fact, have known of the betrayal about to decimate them.
Had he been recruited by the princess? Was that what he had refused to say? What on earth could she be paying him? Had Val allowed his friends, his king, to die? All in some twisted support for the most hated woman in the palace?
Tristan shook his head slowly. It was too hideous to contemplate. He didn’t believe it. Wouldn’t.
The room closed in on him. Too hot. Too perfumed. His head throbbed, and he fought to keep his face calm as the king watched him through hard black eyes.
Grendel slid from his place in the corner to stand next to Ballanor, his hands clasped behind his back as he gave Tristan a pitying look. “It’s obvious that he helped her. She could never have done it alone… and no one else in the palace will go near her.”
Could it really have been Val? The king seemed so certain, but Tristan didn’t want to live in a world where that was true.
Grendel’s eyes narrowed. “Your friend betrayed you. For a woman he’s been fucking.”
“Val was….” He couldn’t say the words.
“He’s been seen coming out of her room by a few of the other guards,” Grendel admitted. “After what happened today, they decided to come forward. There is no doubt.”
Tristan felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Gods. The words rang in his ears.There was no doubt.
Val was fucking her. It suddenly made so much sense.
But would Val do that? Betray him like that? Val was obsessive about honor, but who did he believe his loyalty belonged to—his oldest friend or the woman in his bed?
Of all people, Tristan knew just how easily a person could break faith with someone they were supposed to love. He’d had it beaten into him since he was four years old. And they had evidence. Other guards had seen it. His fellow Blues would never lie, not about something like this. Gods.
Tristan could hardly breathe, let alone think. “We should start a search, ah, arrest him. I—”
King Ballanor cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Captain Lanval was captured with the princess. Both are under guard on the Great North Road. They’ll be back here before morning.”
Tristan blinked, trying to process everything that had happened.
Grendel turned to King Ballanor. “We have much to do if we are to reestablish the military power your father has dismantled.”
Ballanor gave a curt nod. “Assemble the council. We prepare for war.”
It was inevitable. There had been no other possible response to the death of the king and the treachery of the princess.
Something deep inside Tristan grieved for the loss of life to come. And burned with hatred for the traitors that had made it happen.
Ballanor turned to face him. “Take what’s left of your squad and report to the cavalry barracks. Tell them I said to send you to the forty-ninth. You can hand in your captain’s insignia while you’re there. After all, you are responsible for the death of the king. You were friends with the man that betrayed us all. We can hardly trust you with our safety after that, now can we?”
Tristan kept his face completely blank as his entire world fell to ruin around him. Everything he had worked for. Everything he had believed in. Gone.
“You’re dismissed,” Ballanor commanded as he tied the belt of his robe and settled himself back into his chair.
Tristan bowed and let himself silently out the room.
There was nothing he could do to take back that terrible day. Or to ease his horrendous guilt for failing the king. No personal recourse against the princess or the man that had helped her and deceived them all.
