“Yes,” Shane insisted. “She was fine when I left. She wanted to sit in the warmth of the conservatory for a while.”
Izzy pinched the bridge of her nose. Getting the details out of Shane—and Luka—was like sharpening a blade on water. “Okay, so after Narya’s… ah… time with Shane, she was somehow moved from the castle to the Nabaspath. At some point in that journey, she died or was murdered, and then her kidnapper, or accomplice, or killer—whoever was with her—left her body abandoned on the path,” she summarized. “We don’t know anything for sure, except that the person closest to her before she died was our Crown Prince. I assume that half the court saw him leave the banquet with her?”
“Yes,” Luka agreed. “More than half.”
“Did anyone see her after that?” Izzy asked.
“We haven’t had a chance to ask any other guards,” Luka admitted, “but none of us saw her again.”
“We were in the hall the whole time,” Aiden added. “She never came back to the banquet.”
Kai grunted. His smoke-colored scales formed a ridged armor over his collarbones. “We assumed she was with Shane. We didn’t seehimagain either.”
Shane’s scales flooded across his face in a wave of ruby. “You don’t genuinely think I did it, do you? That I killed her and then got someone to dump her far away?”
“Of course not,” Izzy stated firmly. Shane was many things, but he wasn’t a murderer. Or stupid. “But it looks terrible.”
“Batlok won’t accuse Shane,” Aiden argued. “He wants Kaliska safely on our throne, and he needs Shane to do that.”
“Maybe,” Luka said, sounding unconvinced. “Or hewillaccuse Shane and then offer leniency in exchange for unimaginable concessions.” He leaned back on the wall behind him, his usually perfect posture slumping ever so slightly. “Either way, the location is concerning.”
The locationwasa problem. Even if they could argue that the prince had nothing to do with her death, Narya was left on the path of their holy mountain.
Right where we looked for Rayan,her beast observed sadly.
When Rayan’s body washed up on the shore, his clothes were tattered, as if he’d tried to shift. Izzy suspected that he might have been thrown from the rocky headland and had attempted to fly, but failed. Had that been the plan with Narya’s body? Would that have been her fate if Dashiell hadn’t disturbed whoever carried her there? But why would anyone murder someone in that way? It didn’t make sense.
“I’m sorry, Izzy,” Shane said softly. “I know this is hard.”
She blinked, taking in the scales flickering at his collar. Guilt and remorse were written over his face. Mother of the Weave. How many times were they going to go over this? “My brother’sdeath was not your fault.” She twisted to shoot a glare at Luka. “Or yours.”
Or yours, her beast muttered, but Izzy ignored her.
Rayan had told her that he was investigating something that he couldn’t discuss. And maybe she should’ve pressed harder, but she hadn’t imagined anything would really hurt him. He was her older brother. He was strong, kind, and funny. Invincible. She’d expected him to live forever.
In fairness, he also didn’t give us any details, or we might have helped. He wanted you to stay out of it.
Izzy sighed. That was also true. But in the end, it didn’t change anything. Rayan was gone. And his death had changed everything.
Luka grunted—whether it meant agreement, disagreement, or “please stop speaking,” she had no idea. Probably the latter.
“The truth is,” Luka said, “any one of us could be accused of this. Shane was close to Narya. Dashiell found her, but I was nearby. Cori, Aiden, and Kai are among the elite warriors we’ve pulled back from the north—despite their repeated warnings that it would be a mistake to leave the border—and Cori, well….” He swallowed whatever he was going to add. “The point is, we could all be blamed.” Luka’s voice lowered to a dark rumble. “And now, so could you.”
Well, at least that’s clearer.
What was? None of it seemed clearer to her. And they needed to figure it out right now. “Okay. So we don’t know anything helpful.” Izabel turned back to the body. Any clues to what had really happened were not on the surface. She needed to examine Narya properly and, hopefully, find something to point them in the right direction. But the young woman’s dignity was important, too. “I need to take a proper look at her. Cori, please can you stay and help? The rest of you, go wait somewhere else.”
Izzy said a quiet prayer to the Mother while the men filed out into an adjoining study and Cori took off her formal outer tunic. She’d seen her share of death, but it always hurt. In a strange way, she hoped it always did. Her patients deserved that she cared.
Then she rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and started to strip off Narya’s silk robes.
Chapter
Five
Luka glaredat his friend and tried to remember that Shane was also his prince and probably shouldn’t be dropped on his ass for bringing Izzy into their mess.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Shane demanded as they strode into the opulent private parlor behind his office. “Izzy is helping us. She’s one of our best friends, and you insulted her from the moment she arrived.”
