Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
“Wake up,” Harper hissed.
Sabine’s eyes flew open and she found her lady’s maid standing over her.
“Sorry, Your Majesty, but you need to get up.” Harper glanced over her shoulder at the door. “Hurry.”
“What’s the matter?” Sabine rubbed her eyes, sitting up. A heavy fog coated the land outside, hiding everything beyond her balcony.
“There’s all kinds of commotion in the palace. Drew went to find out what’s going on, but he said to get you up and dressed in case he needs to take you somewhere.” Harper yanked Sabine’s covers back.
She got out of bed and hurried to her closet, putting on the first outfit she came across. A few minutes later, someone banged on her door.
“Captain Drew is here,” Harper said as she admitted Drew and two additional guards into the bedchamber.
“What’s wrong?” Sabine asked.
“There’s been another death,” Drew said through clenched teeth. “Captain—I mean Commander Neron.”
Dread filled Sabine. That was the man chosen to replace Felix. “This can’t be a coincidence.” This second death in the palace indicated that they had an Avoni assassin in their midst rather than Rainer ordering the deaths. “How was he killed?”
“I don’t have the details,” Drew said. “But a targeted assassination in the palace is madness.”
“Does the king know?”
“Someone just went to find him,” Drew said.
Sabine wanted to talk to Evander but knew she couldn’t seek him out. “I wish to see my dog.” Not only did she want the comfort of something she loved, but she needed to get out of her room. The walls felt like they were moving toward her. If she stayed here, she’d be crushed.
Harper stayed behind to try to find out more details about the assassination.
Drew and the rest of Sabine’s guards escorted her to the military cavern.
When they reached the corridor where the kennels were located, her guards remained there while Drew escorted her down the hallway, stopping before a door.
He opened it, revealing a long, rectangular room with at least three dozen cages along one side, a dog in each one.
“There are more kennels through there,” Drew said, pointing to one of three doors at the end of the row.
Sabine didn’t say anything as she walked past cage after cage, looking for Harta. Each kennel had a bowl of water and food. Some even had chew toys. The dogs all looked well kept and healthy. When she reached the end of the row, she spotted Harta wagging her tail in the last kennel.
Kneeling on the ground, Sabine let Harta lick her through the bars.
Joy filled her and she laughed. “I’m sorry you’re stuck back in here,” she whispered.
Other than Rainer wanting to punish Sabine, she didn’t know what other possible reason he had for taking the dog away from her.
While she’d considered bringing Harta back to her room with her, she’d decided against it.
Since there had been another murder in the palace, it wasn’t safe for Sabine to spend the night in her room.
She’d have to find somewhere else to sleep—somewhere the assassin wouldn’t be able to find her in case he came for her.
While the dog could offer a level of protection by warning her if someone was approaching, she wanted to have the freedom and flexibility of moving swiftly and quickly without having to worry about Harta.
Drew unlocked the kennel door, opening it. Harta jumped on Sabine, licking her face.
“There’s a room where you can play with her,” Drew said, indicating the door on the right.
Sabine went into the kennel and snatched Harta’s ball. “You want to play?”
Harta wagged her tail, running circles around Sabine.
Drew opened one of the three doors at the end of the hallway, revealing a large room filled with agility equipment for the dogs. Harta ran into the room, eager for Sabine to throw the ball.
Smiling, and feeling lighter than she had in days, she was about to enter the room when she paused. “If there’s another kennel through the door on the left, and this is a training room, then what’s beyond that last door?”
Drew hesitated. “I’m not sure. Why don’t you open it and see?”
Perhaps he wasn’t allowed to tell her and this was a way around that order.
She moved to the door in the middle and opened it, peering inside.
A tube stretched out before her, the ceiling low.
About fifteen feet away, another tube intersected this one.
Only that tube had water in it, reminding Sabine of the time the Lynk soldiers had taken her and Markis in the boat through the mountain’s lava tube.
“Where does this go?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
Off to the side, dozens of boats were stacked. There were also empty bowls and dozens of leashes. These boats had to be used for transporting the dogs. The water in the lava tube smelled salty. “Is this water coming from the ocean?”
Drew shrugged before peering over his shoulder. The hallway behind him remained empty. “We should go.”
Sabine exited and shut the door. She’d have to think about this more later.
Entering the agility room, she found Harta in the middle, eagerly waiting for her to throw the ball.
She chucked it and the dog sprinted after the ball, jumping over the small walls and logs that were in her way.
Sabine spent the next thirty minutes tossing the ball, smiling as Harta bounded after it again and again.
When her stomach growled from hunger, she finally took Harta back to her kennel, locking her inside and promising to visit again. Drew led her out of the kennels and through the corridor to the main training room.
As she skirted along the edge with her guards in tow, she spotted a man training with two other men.
Her feet stopped of their own accord and she stood there, watching the one guy.
Shirtless, sweat covering his torso, he sparred with two opponents at once.
He jabbed at one, ducked a strike from the other, then swiped his leg out, taking one down.
He grappled on the floor, his back muscles moving.
The second opponent jumped on top of his back. He flipped him off, twisted, and put him in a headlock while flinging his legs around the other, squeezing the man’s neck. The sight made her inhale sharply.
Evander had both his opponents tapping out.
“Your Majesty?” Drew said from behind her.
Unable to make herself move, she remained there, staring at Evander.
As if sensing her, the prince stood and turned to face her, their eyes locking on one another.
“Queen Sabine?” Drew said, coming to stand at her side. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes. I was just thinking I need to train.” Not a lie.
Even though Evander wasn’t nearly as large as Rainer, his lean frame was all lithe muscle. Her face warmed thinking about their time together in Avoni when he’d been stabbed and she’d had to clean and sew his wound.
Evander excused himself from the two men he’d been training with and came over to her, bowing. “Queen Sabine,” he said by way of greeting.
Her face warmed as she imagined running her hands over his chest, him pushing her against the wall, pressing himself into her. It took an enormous amount of effort to focus on his face instead of ogling him as she said, “Did you hear there was another murder?”
He lifted a single eyebrow, as if he knew what she’d been thinking about. “I did.”
If she kissed him right now, he’d probably taste salty from sweating.
She licked her lips, about to ask him what he knew about the murder, when Rainer exited from the corridor twenty feet to her left, Anton and Axel close behind him.
Immediately spotting her, Rainer’s eyes narrowed as he looked between Sabine and Evander.
The two men Evander had been sparring with came over, flanking him. One handed him his shirt. Evander took it, wiping off his face before putting it on.
When Rainer was close enough for Sabine to hear him without him raising his voice, he asked, “Why are you here?”
She pointed behind her. “I came to visit Harta.”
He nodded before sliding his hand on her waist and kissing her jaw. His lips moved to her ear. “Return to the palace.” Rainer pinched her side hard enough to make her yelp in pain. Leaning back, he looked her in the eyes. “Now.”
Instead of responding, Sabine glanced over at Evander. His hands were balled into fists.
Rainer rolled his shoulders and tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck. “Let’s go.” He turned and headed to the right.
Anton immediately followed Rainer.
Axel slowly strolled past, smirking at Sabine. “Never a dull moment.”
“We’ll talk later,” Evander mumbled before he, too, hurried after Rainer, his own two men going with him.
“Any idea what that’s about?” she asked Drew.
“My only guess would be that it has something to do with the murder.”
The mention of the murder reminded Sabine of the assassin in the dungeon. Since Rainer was here in the cavern, that meant he wasn’t in the palace. It was time to go and pay the Avoni prisoner a visit.
“I can’t let you do this,” Drew said. “It’s not safe.”
“How is it not safe if the man’s locked in the dungeon?” Sabine asked, folding her arms across her chest. “I’ve been down there before.” As the queen, Drew had to do what she said. He shouldn’t be questioning her like this.
His hand went to the hilt of his sword, clutching it. “Commander Felix was in charge last time.”
And now he was dead. “If you’re worried about getting in trouble, don’t be.
I’m your queen, and I’m ordering you to move aside so I can go down there.
” Now more than ever, it was imperative for her to question the prisoner.
While she understood Drew’s concern, he couldn’t become paranoid with her safety to the point of being unreasonable.
Yes, there had been murders. In fact, a murder was what brought her to Lynk in the first place.
What they needed to be doing was solving these crimes, not hiding away.
“You don’t have the key,” he pointed out.