“Sir—”
“It’s my fault,” Evelyn interrupted. “I asked Damien to accompany me. I told him I would take a horse by myself if he didn’t come. He was keeping me safe.”
Father looks disappointed in me, but at least he isn’t yelling at Damien anymore.
King Gerard was losing patience with all of them. “Who else knows about this?”
“No one, sir,” Damien lied. “But I did find another soldier to guard the door from the outside.”
“Good. It needs to stay quiet until we know what happened.”
“There’s something else. Whoever killed the soldiers also wrote a message on the wall… in blood.”
“What does it say?”
Damien hesitated. “It said…Kennedy was only the beginning.”
The color drained from King Tristan’s face. After all, he was only wearing a crown because the Kennedy family had been murdered weeks ago.
“It didn’t say anything else?” King Gerard asked.
“No, sir,” Damien said, glancing at Evelyn. “But the message was also hidden under an illusion.”
“Shediscovered that, too?” King Gerard eyed Evelyn suspiciously.
“Yes, sir.”
“You allowed a princess into a room full of mutilated bodies?” King Tristan seethed.
“Father, please!” Evelyn told him. “No one dragged me inside. We wouldn’t knowanythingabout this if I hadn’t been there!”
“Evelyn—” her father began.
“That’s enough,” King Gerard announced. “I don’t need to hear your family drama, Tristan. Your daughter can be dealt with later.”
King Tristan looked like he wanted to argue but resisted. Evelyn glared at the King of Gryon.
“Captain Fontaine, show us where the soldiers are,” King Gerard commanded.
“Yes, sir.”
The four of them walked back downstairs. Evelyn started to follow Damien out the front door, but her father stopped her.
“You are not going,” King Tristan said.
“But I’m the one who can see everything!” Evelyn protested.
“It is not safe for you.”
“I’ve already been there!”
“This is not up for discussion!” he roared.
Evelyn flinched, and a flicker of guilt crossed her father’s face.
He never raises his voice at me.
The queen and Hannah reappeared in the entryway.
