from behind her. The chamber was e

do you

stern courtyard - the opposite direction. We followed the trail to a wall he must have climbed, wounded as

ned. "Did you fi

et a ring on the table, beari

using the c

ne. I'm asking whe

y few people

d is missing - the one carrying the royal seal. Whoever holds that sword can move through this

ught at the impli

want to look away, and didn't. "Why does the new king remind me so little of the man I served

Then she forced a small, tired smile.

believe it. "Or perhaps you ar

etreat would look exactly like what he suspected. "If y

cuse withou

he door, and behind her she felt his eyes follow, a strange ten

ht, Your

He was dangerous - far more dangerous than she had expected on the night of the coronation

m her head. Her shoulders sagged the moment the weight of it left her, and she stood before the mirror for a long while, watching the king

" she wh

dagger already in hand, and found nothing but th

ng maid stumbled out from behind them, dropp

are

ven. "I saw someone near the old armory. A man in a royal guard uniform, carrying a sword - I think i

did he

swering. "'The king is not the

went

am - an arrow, buried in the frame, a scrap of parchment tied to its shaft. Amara crossed

L ABOUT

st him before it succeeded - or had he been part of it from the start? For the first time since taking the crown, Amara realized there was something more unsettling than the fear of

cked door, might be the only man in the kin