“How can we help you, Your Majesty?” Alan asks.
“I am going to visit the emperor.” I start down the hall. The guards follow, but don’t challenge me.
For the first time, I’m grateful that Caiden’s room is so close to mine. Knowing it’s directly below me helps me find it quickly. When I stop in front of the door, I notice the light glowing along the crack on the bottom.
If he’s not in there and awake, someone else is. I hesitate for a moment, my pulse kicking up in anticipation. What do I hope I find behind this door? Caiden in perfect condition?
Brevan standing over the emperor’s cooling corpse?
I wince, the visual making me feel a little guilty.
Before I can analyze it, I knock.
Then I knock again.
We stand there long enough that one of the guards clears his throat in a clear indication that he thinks we’ve been waiting too long.
I try the handle and it turns. I pause, allowing for anyone inside to shut me out, but it doesn’t come. Slowly, I push the door open and step over the threshold.
A roaring fire crackles, illuminating the room with a warm glow. The large bed is still made, not a single pillow out of place. Muddy boots and an abandoned travel cloak sit in the corner, which makes me think he turned his servants away. That’s not like him. Every time I’ve been in his rooms before, there was never a single thing out of place.
Murmurs sound from somewhere near the back of the room. I take care to close the door quietly. Gone is my desire to alert anyone in the room to my presence.
Light pours from two of the doors in the rear of the room, but only one of them is ajar. I approach it slowly, the voices growing louder.
“…swelling and the scarring?” Caiden asks.
“We can’t be certain. There was severe blood loss.” It takes me a moment to place the voice, but I’m almost certain it’s Matron Lara from the infirmary.
“How long do you think? Till we know the outcome?” Caiden asks.
“We’ll know more by morning. If there’s still no response by nightfall tomorrow, we should alert the family to say their goodbyes,” she says.
“Is there anything I’m missing? Some treatment we can try? A healer we can summon? Is there anyone with a gods’ gift who can fix this?” Caiden is almost pleading.
Anxiety twists in my gut. I take another step closer, desperate to know who he’s talking about. The floor creaks and the door flies open as I jump back.
Caiden stands in front of the door, still in his filthy traveling clothes. His face is smudged with dirt, and up close, the scratches on his face look worse than I initially thought. I suspect more injuries are hidden beneath the tattered clothes. The dark color hides any blood, his or anyone else’s. He should be getting medical attention.
“Sabina, what are you doing here? I told you I’d come to you.”
“Who’s in there with you?” I demand.
“You need to go. You can’t be here right now.” He shifts so he’s blocking my view of the room.
Matron Lara joins him. “Empress, nice to see you again.” She inclines her head, then turns to Caiden. “I should go. The patient is stable but if anything changes, call for me.”
He nods, and she walks away. As soon as I hear the door close, I try to get around him, but he captures me in his arms. “I said, not now.”
I twist, trying to escape. He’s not holding me as tightly as he has in the past and to my surprise, I free myself. But I don’t charge past him. There’s a heavy sense of defeat around him that is nearly dragging me under so I stay where I am. “Caiden, who is in there?”
“Please, I’ll explain it all soon,” he pleads.
“Just tell me.”
He runs a hand through his hair.
“Is it Brevan?” My voice comes out small and frightened. I almost don’t recognize it.
