Page 86 of The Royal Throne
“I tried to encourage him to answer the questions. He didn’t, no matter what I did.”
“Were there other soldiers with you?”
“Yes. Why all the questions?”
She didn’t know if she should tell him about her conversation with the assassin. Grabbing Cutler’s sleeve, she yanked him into an alcove. “When did you question him?” she demanded.
“Earlier today. The king took me into the dungeon. He told me what he wanted to know.”
“Which was?” she prodded.
Cutler sighed. “He needed to know if the assassin had help. In other words, if he was working alone or had a partner.” He ran his hands over his face. “The king is afraid we’ve arrested one assassin but still have a second on the loose. He’s afraid the second is coming to free the first one.”
“Who does the king think is responsible for the two murders in the palace?”
Cutler looked her in the eyes. “He’s questioning Prince Evander as we speak.”
Dread filled her. “Surely he doesn’t think Evander killed those men? He wasn’t even in the palace when your father died.”
“Evander?” Cutler said. “That’s rather informal of you.”
Sabine chose to ignore him.
When she didn’t respond, he continued, “You need to stay out of the investigation. Don’t go near the dungeon—you don’t want people questioning your motives.”
“I understand.” She might not agree with it, but she understood what he was saying. “Thank you for your time.”
He nodded then left.
Sabine leaned against the wall considering everything. Her sister had been killed by an Avoni assassin with poison similar to what was used on Felix. That couldn’t be a coincidence. She needed to find out how Neron was killed. She pushed off the wall and continued along the hallway. While Sabine didn’t think Lottie had anything to do with the current murders, she had to at least consider it. Lottie had hired the assassin who killed Alina and tried killing Sabine. While there were some similarities, she knew that King Kai had sent that unit of assassins here. The man in the dungeon had to be a part of that unit.
Except that King Kai wasn’t in charge of the assassins.
Evander was.
Chapter Twenty
That evening at supper, Sabine sat at the table, picking at her food, unable to eat. She’d been trying to ignore Rainer and Evander’s conversation at the other end of the table. Pretending it wasn’t happening. The last thing she wanted to hear was Evander planning his wedding to Lottie.
“Will we spend the wedding night here?” Lottie asked. “Or on the ship?”
“You should spend it here,” Rainer answered. “Then you two can leave in the morning.”
“Yes,” Evander said. “I think that’s wise. Do you have someone to verify the marriage has been consummated?”
Sabine thought she was going to be ill.
Anton reached out, touching Sabine’s hand and garnering her attention. “Everything all right?” he mumbled.
She nodded, not looking him in the eyes.
“It appears a lot happened while the prince and I were gone,” he said.
At that, she peered up at him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Anton had to be upset with her for what she’d done. If he’d been here, he would have been arrested as well. That was the one part of her plan that had grated on her nerves—that Anton and Axel would meet the same fate as Lottie. They didn’t deserve it.
“You’re sorry?” He pulled his hand back. “I’m not the one with a bruise around my neck.”
Reaching up, she covered the mark with her hand, wishing she could hide it. The constant reminder of what Rainer had done, of what he was capable of, scared her.
