Page 58 of The Royal Throne
“I’m sorry I’m so informally dressed,” she said. “I didn’t realize we had a visitor.”
“You traveled together,” Rainer said, motioning between the two of them. “I’m sure the prince has seen you dressed casually before.” He squeezed her shoulder, the gesture part assurance and part threat.
Her skin prickled with unease. Clasping her hands together, she took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves so Rainer wouldn’t know how uncomfortable she was right now.
“I have three older sisters,” Evander said. “I’m used to women running around in robes. And since the queen and I did travel together, and I’ll be marrying Princess Lottie soon, I consider Sabine like family. My fourth sister.” The corners of his lips curled into a slight smile.
Her face warmed with humiliation. A sister. When she’d first realized Evander wasn’t the horrible assassin she thought him to be, and that they actually got along quite well, she considered him as a sibling of sorts. But then their friendship grew, and she realized he was neither sibling nor friend. He was so much more.
Rainer stroked the side of her face, the act possessive. “Are any of your sisters this beautiful?”
Evander chuckled, resting his arms on his legs and leaning slightly forward. “I learned early on to never compare women’s beauty as they are all beautiful in their own right.”
“Smart man,” Rainer said. “Lottie is lucky to be marrying you.”
“I feel like I’m the lucky one,” Evander replied smoothly.
Wanting to change the subject, Sabine asked, “Why is the prince here?”
“We have some business to discuss,” Rainer said, his face turning somber. “Sabine, darling, why don’t you go to bed. I’ll be along shortly.”
His words made her cringe. He wanted Evander to think they shared a bed, that the king owned her body. But he didn’t. Evander had to see through this act. He had to know that after the day they shared together, she wouldn’t give herself to another man—even if that man was her husband. At least not yet. Not tonight.
“Yes,” Evander said, a slight drawl to his voice, his eyes not looking her way. “Run along. Let the men discuss important kingdom matters.” His voice held a sharp edge to it. Sabine knew he had to be joking because there was no way he agreed with the way Rainer treated her, excluding her from crucial matters. If she were married to Evander, it would be an equal partnership.
She stood, wanting to say something snarky, but not wanting to upset Rainer and have him take it out on her later. Instead, she bid them both goodnight and went to her room, locking the door from her side.
A soft knock sounded on her outer door. She went over, cracking it an inch, revealing Harper and Drew standing there. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
Drew shook his head. “We need to talk.”
Dread filled her. Not wanting to have an important conversation with Rainer so close, she quickly dressed before joining them out in the corridor. They silently headed to the nearby turret. Her guards remained in the stairwell with Harper, while Drew and Sabine went onto the rooftop, going over to the railing, as far away from the stairwell as possible so no one could overhear them.
“You’re scaring me,” Sabine whispered. “What’s going on?”
“Earlier, the king called me into his office and informed me that there have been a slew of murders in our military camps across Lynk.”
Sabine had heard about these murders first at Felix’s gathering, then again at Karmen’s.
“So far, the victims have been mostly high ranking military officials,” he continued. “No one knows who’s responsible or who will be next. It’s causing panic across the kingdom.”
“This is why the king spoke to you?”
“Yes.”
Then it had nothing to do with her activities today. She needed to talk to Evander about these murders to see if he knew who was committing them. King Kai had informed her that a group of Avoni assassins were stuck in Lynk. Though, she suspected stuck was a bit of a stretch. Even though Rainer had burned and sunk the Avoni ship the assassins were supposed to leave on, the group had to be resourceful enough to find another way out of Lynk. After all, Evander had managed to do so without issue.
“The king said he was going to question Prince Evander about the murders,” Drew said.
“When and where did the most recent murders take place?”
“Last night, about ten miles from here.” He leaned on the railing.
That explained why the king wanted to meet with Evander. “Obviously the prince isn’t committing these crimes.” She rubbed her forehead, realizing he wouldn’t be able to reveal his alibi for today since it was her. If these murders were tied to Avoni, Evander would be in grave danger.
“If it’s not the prince, it could be one of the prince’s men.”
Since Drew didn’t seem to know about the missing Avoni assassins, Rainer must not either. That being the case, the most likely person to pin this on would be Evander or one of his personal guards which explained why Rainer was questioning him. “Thank you for telling me this.”
