“His new bride?” Nic asked, frowning. “He got married?”
Mikah nodded, his expression grim. “To Princess Amara.”
Nic’s jaw dropped.
This was impossible. Jonas had just arrived, ready to put a dagger in the king’s heart, to die doing it, if necessary.
But the king was gone.
He swore under his breath. “Unbelievable. So Felix went with them, then. Is that why he isn’t here?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what, exactly?”
“Felix is very likely dead by now.”
Jonas’s chest clenched into a painful fist, and he stared questioningly at Mikah.
“He was charged with a very serious crime and was taken to the underground dungeons. Once a prisoner is put down there, the only way they come out is in pieces.”
“What was his crime?”
Again, Mikah glanced back at the happy crowd on the beach. Jonas followed his line of sight. The Kraeshians basked under the sunshine, all of them seemingly clueless as to the darkness of the Jewel that lay so very close by.
Mikah turned back to Jonas and Nic and, in hushed tones, told them the story of the poisoned wedding celebration—the story that was not yet public knowledge.
When he was finished, Mikah seemed even more certain that Felix was already dead.
But Mikah didn’t know Felix nearly as well as Jonas did.
• • •
After their talk at the docks, Jonas and Nic were brought back to the rebel base, a collection of rooms on the top floor of a purple building painted on the side with a floral mural. Such a happy-looking place for such a serious and deadly discussion.
“She’s back,” Nic said as he exited the building to have a private chat with Jonas.
Jonas looked up at the hawk circling above them. “Yes, I noticed her earlier.”
“She’s not going to give up.”
“She should.”
“You should talk to her.”
“I don’t want to talk to her.”
“She could help,” Nic persisted.
“How? By getting someone else I care about killed?” He hissed out a breath. “Fine. Go back inside. I’ll handle this.”
“Don’t be too hard on her, all right?”
“Can’t promise anything.”
Nic nodded grimly, then disappeared back into the building.
It was far too hot for cloaks in Kraeshia, so instead he pulled his cotton shirt off over his head and threw it on the grass in front of him for Olivia to put on. Then he turned his back.