The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles 3)

My jaw dropped. I knew Gwyneth had some unsavory connections, but I never suspected one of them to be so high in the food chain. She had good reason to be afraid. I turned, cursing in Vendan to spare Pauline’s ears and a penance.

“You can curse in Morrighese,” she said. “No penance required. I’ve probably said the same thing myself. Or worse.”

“You, Pauline?” I grinned. “Wielding knives and cursing? My, how you’ve changed.”

She laughed. “Funny, I was just thinking the very same about you.”

“For better or worse?”

“You are who you needed to become, Lia. We’ve both changed out of necessity.” A wrinkle darkened her brow. She noticed my riding leathers beneath my cloak for the first time. “Going somewhere?”

“Now that the rain has let up, people will be in the streets again. I can pass unnoticed, and Bryn and Regan are surely back by now. I want to—”

“They won’t be back yet.”

“The City of Sacraments is only a few days’ ride, and dedicating a memorial stone doesn’t take but a day. Bryn and Regan won’t—”

“Lia, I think you misunderstood. They’re going to more cities after that, and then on to the Lesser Kingdoms. Regan to Gitos and Bryn to Cortenai. They’re on a diplomatic mission ordered by the Field Marshal.”

“What are you talking about? Princes don’t go on diplomatic missions. They’re soldiers.”

“I questioned it too, especially with your father ill. It doesn’t follow protocol. But Bryn thought it was important, and your father approved it.”

All the way to the Lesser Kingdoms? My heart plummeted. That could mean weeks of waiting that we couldn’t afford. But I couldn’t march into the conclave without them.

I shook my head. A diplomatic mission. I knew how Bryn and Regan hated such things. I could picture Regan rolling his eyes. The only part he would like was riding in the open—

My throat tightened.

They were asking a lot of questions, trying to get at the truth.

Just like Walther had. I’ll discreetly nose around.

Which made them a liability.

“What’s wrong?” Pauline asked.

I grabbed the porch post to steady myself. A visit to a Lesser Kingdom would mean days of traveling across the Cam Lanteux. They’d be unsuspecting and easy targets. My heart went cold. They weren’t on a mission. They were headed into another ambush. The princes were being eliminated—along with their questions.

My father would never have approved this. Not if he knew.

“It’s an ambush, Pauline. Bryn and Regan are headed into an ambush—the same as Walther. They have to be stopped before it’s too late. I have to go tell my father. Now.”

And I ran for the citadelle, praying it wasn’t already too late.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

KADEN

“Hello, Andrés.”

I had promised Lia I wouldn’t confront my father. I’d said nothing about my brother.

I’d heard Pauline wonder aloud to Gwyneth if it could have been Andrés who had followed her to the inn and alerted the Chancellor to where they were staying. Pauline hadn’t revealed her identity to Andrés, but she recalled that he’d asked her a lot of questions. Once she learned what the Viceregent had done to me, it made her wonder if his questions hadn’t been so innocent after all. I was sure they weren’t innocent. He was his father’s son.

I surprised him at the cemetery gate just after he walked in, quickly hooking one arm over his shoulder like we were old friends, my other hand holding a knife discreetly pressed to his side. “Let’s go for a walk, shall we?” He got the message right away and fell into step with me.

I led him to Morrighan’s crypt in the center of the cemetery, a place of cobwebs, spirits, dim light, and thick walls. Once we were down the stairs, I pushed him away. He stumbled forward and turned.