Page 182 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
“It’s not.” Leesa shook her head. “It can’t be.”
“But it is.” Adara yanked the dress’ hem back down with a scowl. “She looks exactly like you.”
“Like how I used to look.” I gulped. “Before I came here.”
Zandyr kicked himself from the wall, coming to stand next to me. His right hand pressed protectively against the small of my back. The longer he looked at the body, the more fiery his touch became.
Adara studied her just as closely. Finally, she swore so hard, I could actually feel Goose blushing from the back.
“There are no paintings of me from after I turned five years-old,” I said.
There was only one explanation, and the answer hung in the tense silence.
“We’re either dealing with Serpents…” Zandyr began. “Or Protectorate.”
I opened my mouth to argue, I did. But Silas stood on the throne, my cousins were scattered all over the continent, and no Protectorate envoy had been sent for my wedding.
Even so, I didn’t want to believe it.
“A spy could have watched me closely after I came back to Aquila,” I said.
“They could have,” Zandyr said in a tone that suggested he didn’t believe that for a second. I didn’t believe it either. “A very talented Morgana member could have done this, under the right guidance. They needed to have access to some part of you from that time. Skin, sweat, blood–”
“Hair. Allie used to brush my hair every night.”
Adara’s mouth twisted. “I knew your cousins couldn’t be trusted.”
“Don’t,” I said in an unflinching tone. “My cousins are not to blame for this. They’re targets, just like me. Those masked attackers could have easily taken that brush after the wedding massacre and planned my kidnapping.”
Who even knew where that brush had ended up. In the wrong hands, apparently.
“We need to find out who wants us dead. Andwhy.” That was the crux of it. Why? Why, why, why?
“Perhaps someone wants to rid Malhaven of Vegheara blood,” Adara said.
“They might. My attackers saidtheywanted our blood. There must be a reason for all of this. We are no threat right now.Icertainly am not.” The assassin had said Allie’s spell made my blood dangerous, nothing else.
“Yet,” Adara said. “Think it’s a coincidence they stole you right before your wedding? You will be the most powerful queen in all of Malhaven.”
Yes. And once I became one, I would take my revenge. The assassins might have been dealt with, but someone else controlled them.
“We need to find out who sent those attackers. They were probably behind the wedding ambush as well,” Zandyr rumbled.“And discover what the underworld is making them turn to ash as soon as they’re struck.”
I nodded. “There’s something strangeinthem. Their blood…their blood was green. The Quoriliths–”
“The scrolls are gone,” Goose cried out all of sudden. All eyes turned to him as my stomach became leaden. He was shivering like a leaf. “I don’t know how they found them up in the beams, but I checked your room as soon as I came back and the satchel laid shredded on the floor…gone. They’re gone.”
Zandyr’s hold on me tightened, grounding me.
I closed my eyes, a hollow sensation taking root in me. I’d risked my life for nothing but a few scraps of information and symbols that couldn’t be deciphered. At least Goose had managed to transcribe one of them.
Adara took out her dagger and threw it against the wall, impaling it in the hair-thin grout between the stones. She breathed heavily, muscles rippling up her back.
Then she straightened, as if nothing had happened. “You should call off the wedding.”
“No,” Zandyr said calmly, even as I felt the maelstrom twisting inside him.
“We have been breached,” Adara said just as calmly. Two efficient warriors hashing it out, but there was an undercurrent brimming in each steady word.
