Page 173 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

I arched a brow at her. “Not yet, I have a couple more questions. Why did you send the Dhampirs after us?”

Her brows furrowed. “Is that what those creatures are? You think we sent them?”

“Didn’t you?” Luka and I asked in unison.

She shook her head. “The Vanir have nothing to do with those abominations. We’ve been avoiding them for months. They’ve killed many Vanir since they started appearing.”

“If the Vanir aren’t responsible for the abominations, who are?” We all shared a questioning look.

“What about Astria’s journal?” Luka pressed.

“Astria’s journal?” Oriza asked, her brows furrowing.

“Fuck,” Luka swore. “The Vanir aren’t the ones looking for Astria’s journal are they?”

Oriza shook her head. “I might not know much, but I’ve never heard anyone mention a journal or book of any type.”

My stomach hollowed.

Luka swore. “What does this mean?”

“It means we’ve been keeping our eyes on the Vainr this whole time, while there’s another force at work.” I looked at Luka. “It means we no longer have one enemy, but two.”

Oriza whistled. “I’m not envious of you guys, that’s for sure.” I leveled her with a gaze.

“Any more questions?” She turned away from my stare.

I looked at Luka, who shook his head.

Well then.

I stood and reached for my sword. Luka stopped me with ahand to my arm. “Do you think killing her is the best idea? What if we could get more information?”

I looked at Oriza. “I made a deal. I will stick to that deal.”

“You didn’t say you had to kill her immediately,” he countered.

“I know.” I looked at Oriza again. When we first came in she looked like a tough assassin. Now—now she looked like a sad young female.

“Keeping her alive any longer would be as bad as torturing her.”

Luka removed his hand. He hadn’t been trying to stop me, he only wanted to make sure I was certain this was the right choice. I appreciated it when he did that. I did tend to make brash choices, but this wasn’t one.

Minerva whined as I removed her from her sheath—causing Oriza’s gaze to flick up to meet mine. She stood, the chains shaking slightly as she wrung her hands. I met her dark gaze. “Thank you for all the information you gave. Rest well knowing it will be used to create a better Lethenia. To help try to end this strife between our people.”

A muscle feathered in her jaw as a tear slipped down her cheek. I tightened my hand around the pommel of my sword until the metal bit into my palm. I focused on the sting. On the pain.

She had tried to commit treason, I reminded myself. She would be tortured if I let her go. I couldn’t trust her to stay in the palace—even if she had given us valuable information.

I closed my eyes and thrust my arm forward. I winced at the sound of the gasp choking from Oriza’s throat. I removed my sword from her heart letting it clang to the floor as I laid her lifeless body on the straw. Her blood coated my hands as I stared into her lifeless eyes.

It was what had to be done. I closed her eyes with shaking fingers before squeezing my own eyes shut.This is what she wanted,I repeated to myself.

A hand brushed over my shoulder, taking me from my thoughts. “Lennox, it’s time to go,” Luka whispered gently.

I wiped my bloody hands on my leathers, quickly turning and leaving the room. I made it several paces down the hallway before stopping and turning to Caio, snapping my mask of queen back on. “The body should be burned and set to rest in a dignified manner.”

He nodded and at his confirmation, I turned and headed back out of the dungeon.

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