Hilda swiped the tears from Ilsa’s cheeks and took her hands. She guided the incredibly tall Ilsa from her chair and led her to the wall of mirrors.
Alastar the Wise was sitting right behind those mirrors, hearing everything. Hell, Nikkolas Bloodstone was there too.
And so was the doomed future Baron Thornebow.
Hilda gently straightened Ilsa so she stood squarely in front of the mirrors. She wrapped her hands around Ilsa’s arms and smiled at their reflections.
“I am not sure how much you can see right now,” Hilda said with a smile, “but you are radiant.”
Could Ilsa…not see?
“Today might be hard but—” Hilda’s smile grew bigger. “—you can still love him. It will just take time.”
Ilsa’s countenance hardened and I swore the temperature in the room dropped. Her cold gaze set on her reflection, unknowingly facing the man who would become Alastar the Wise.
“He can force me to marry him, but I willneverlove him.”
Ilsa’s words put a stamp of finality on the memory, so I released my magic.
My mind returned to an ice-cold body. I fought back a chill as I tried to comprehend everything I saw.
“It was the Presentation.” My heart raced as I panted. Searching through the memory took more energy than I expected. “She did not want to marry Alastar the Wise and refused to love him.”
Brietta gave me a considering look. “Why? She had to have a reason.”
“She…just did not want to be forced.”
Brietta hissed out a breath and looked down at the dress. “A feeling I share.”
“She was right at the mirrors when she said it—and Alastar the Wise still picked her?”
“The future Duke just needed a valuable diamond, not a happy one.”
Diamond. “She had a diamond too—a large blue one.”
Her eyes widened. “What? A diamond that size and color would be worth thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of marks. If something like that is in her vault—”
“Do you know where the vault is?”
She tightened her hold on her arms. “No. And no one will tell us unless they want to lose their heads. But if the Hytons had sold a jewel like that, my family would have known about it. It has to be in the palace.”
And if the Hytons were willing to hide away a diamond worth a small fortune, what else were they hiding in that vault?
I pushed up from the floor with a huff. Finding the vault would be the next move. We still had no definite answers, but we at least had a lead.
“Anything else?” Brietta asked.
“She was blind, at least I am fairly certain she was.”
Brietta wrung her hands together and paced across the room. I suddenly noticed the knuckles on her right hand were red and swollen.
Had she hurt herself? I followed behind her as she paced, but she stopped in her tracks.
“She did not kill him,” she said.
I crossed my arms. “Are you really saying it is impossible for a blind person to kill her husband?”
“No, what I am saying is that Iunderstandher.” Brietta looked over her shoulder at me. “She might have been forced into the marriage. She might not love him, but…no matter what he did, even if it was horrible…she would not find it in herself to kill him. Even if she had found a way around the blood bond.”
