Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Ladon
The Marsden family ring weighed heavy in my pocket as we stepped inside the King’s throne room.
I couldn’t even take a moment to admire the sparkling emerald windows that made it seem as though we were high in the trees and sunlight was filtering through the leaves.
The image of the twins’ faces and their final moments was impossible to shake.
Looking at King Marsden only made it worse. His children resembled him so much, particularly in the nose and high cheekbones. His eyes were nothing like theirs, though. Theirs had been big and bold, filled with desperation. Looking into his eyes, I saw only weariness.
We walked the carpet-laden path until we were at the foot of his throne, and Cyrus bowed his head. King Marsden did the same, though he remained seated.
“Thank you for taking this meeting, King Marsden,” Cyrus said.
King Marsden stood and took the two steps down to our level, stopping in front of Cyrus. “Please call me Vincent.”
“As long as you call me Cyrus.”
The two kings smiled and shook hands before colliding in a friendly embrace. Vincent sighed before pulling back and placing his hands on my brother’s shoulders. “It’s been too long, Cyrus. What has it been? Fifteen years?”
Fifteen years… when my father had died. Shortly after Cyrus had been crowned as the new king, rulers from all around the world had visited Renoa to pay their respects and establish a connection with my brother.
They were about the same age—although Vincent had more gray sprinkled throughout his hair and beard—so I imagined they’d hit it off all those years ago.
I’d been in too much distress and had spent the entire month holed up, avoiding the parade of regal guests that ventured into our kingdom.
“It’s good to see you again,” Cyrus said. Then he waved his hand behind him, to the rest of us. “This is my brother, Ladon, my… uh… Emilie of Dreslen, and Jade of Murvort.”
Vincent didn’t notice the way he stumbled over Emilie’s name or the stilted tone he used to say mine. But I did. It hurt more than it should have.
“Murvort,” Vincent repeated. His eyes flickered over to Jade, appraising her with a stern face. The friendly greeting he’d given my brother was long gone. “Never thought I’d see the day when a representative of Murvort would step on my soil.”
Jade opened her mouth to respond—no doubt, with an insult or something that would embarrass us all and complicate our mission—but Cyrus cut her off. “It’s quite a surprise, isn’t it? I never expected to host an emissary either, but sometimes life blindsides us in ways you’d never imagine.”
I could’ve sworn I saw him glance between Emilie and me, but his attention returned to Vincent.
“Actually, that’s why we’re here. I’m sure you’ve heard that Reyna Lemaire is on the run and the Holdens have claimed power over Murvort.
We believe Reyna is hiding here in Baumheim.
We followed her here because we have some unfinished business to attend to. ”
“I know the business you speak of,” Vincent said, looking past my brother to me and Emilie. “I’ve heard what happened to you, and I am very sorry for what you’ve been through.”
My stomach tightened, but I remained stoic. From the corner of my eye, I saw Emilie turn rigid. I stepped closer to her instinctively, knowing how much she loathed unwanted attention. Cyrus noticed my protective stance before his eyes fell to his feet.
Somehow, our trauma had made it all the way to Baumheim. If only we had been given the choice of whether we were ready to share what had happened to us. But someone—Reyna or any number of her surviving loyalists—had spread the word, and now it was beyond our control.
I tried to keep my anger at bay. It wasn’t Vincent’s fault, after all. “If you know, then you’ll help? Have you heard anything about her whereabouts?”
Vincent grimaced. “I have not. Nor do I wish to. As much as I sympathize with your situation, I can’t get involved. I can’t put my country in the middle of this. If a war is brewing between Murvort and Osavian, Wyland cannot afford to get caught up in it.”
Next to me, Jade scoffed, and I shared her irritation. What kind of person refuses to stand on the right side of a war? Not that it would come to that. Reyna had already been chased off, and there was no way we’d let her or her supporters return to power.
“It won’t come to that,” I said. “Reyna’s grip on Murvort is completely severed. There is no war to be fought.”
“I can’t take that risk.”
“There’s no risk to be taken,” Cyrus argued. “In fact, you don’t even need to help us. We’ll find her on our own. We simply request your assurance that we’ll be able to leave the continent with her imprisoned. Will you at least allow us to extradite her?”
Vincent paused to consider. “I don’t like this, Cyrus. I know we’ve been friends for a long time, but you have to understand—I want to keep my kingdom safe. I can’t put a target on us.”
“Your kingdom isn’t safe as long as Reyna stays here,” I growled. “She’s a bigger threat to you than we are.”
Nothing we said seemed to matter. It was clear that Vincent had made up his mind before we’d ever landed in Baumheim. There was only one thing now that might sway him.
I pulled the ring out of my pocket—the one with his family crest. Reaching out to him, I unfurled my clenched fist, the ring displayed in my palm.
It took him a second before he noticed. Then his eyes narrowed as he stepped closer. Taking the ring from my hand, he held it up to the light. “Where did you get this?”
My suspicions were confirmed, and even though it improved our circumstances, my shoulders slumped, knowing that I was the last one to see his two precious children alive.
“While we were held captive in Murvort, we witnessed many other atrocities under that mountain—slaves incapable of speaking, animals that had been experimented on, soulless vultures who delighted in our pain—but one of the most horrendous scenes I had to witness involved two young adults. A boy and a girl, around sixteen or seventeen. They had your blond hair.”
A mixture of sorrow and shock washed over his face.
In his eyes, I saw his conflicting emotion—longing to know what happened to his children, yet terrified to hear of their gruesome end.
Regardless, he wouldn’t be able to rest until his children had been found, and I was the only one who could give him that.
“I didn’t know there were other captives,” I said softly. “I thought we were the only ones. By the time I ran into them, they were already doomed. It seems that one or both of them killed one of Reyna’s pets—a hound. As you can imagine, she didn’t take that well. She…”
I trailed off, unsure how much detail I should provide. Was it worth tormenting him just to get him to help us?
“What did she do?” he asked, stepping closer to me. The color had drained from his face, and he grabbed my shoulders like he could shake the response from me.
“The boy—”
“Vincent. Vincent the Third.”
I nodded. “Vincent was killed first. Reyna burned him alive with her lightning.”
A sob escaped the King, and he released his hold on me. He turned and started pacing, pushing his hair back with shaky palms. When his attention returned to me, his eyes were full of tears. “And my daughter? Violet?”
“Reyna set her snake on Violet. It attacked, and the poison—”
Vincent fell to the floor, his knees slamming into the red-flecked marble.
“The poison spread pretty quickly, and then she was gone too,” I finished softly.
I felt awful watching Vincent break in front of me. Perhaps I should’ve kept the information to myself. He didn’t deserve to hurt like this.
My brother kneeled beside him and wrapped one arm around his shoulders, comforting him while he trembled. I heard a sniffling noise and discovered Emilie was crying too. I reached for her hand and laced our fingers together, which only made her sob harder.
“Give us a minute,” Cyrus said.
Jade left the room first, and I pulled Emilie behind me, returning to the portrait gallery. The door closed behind us with an echoing thud.
For several long minutes, we stood speechless. The only sound was Emilie’s stifled sobs. Eventually, those subsided too.
Jade sat on a bench and crossed her legs and arms, inhaling a deep breath. “You did the right thing.”
“Did I?”
She nodded and stared at the dirt beneath her fingernails, doing her best to pretend she wasn’t fazed.
She was, though. We all were. “He would’ve spent the rest of his life wondering what happened to his children.
It hurts now, but he’ll survive. And when he’s done falling apart in there, he’s going to appreciate what you did for him. ”
“She’s right,” Emilie said through a choked sob. Red splotches covered the skin beneath her eyes, and her nose was pink.
I pushed her hair back behind her ear and wiped away a stray tear. Then I sighed. “It doesn’t make it any easier.”
Emilie nodded and then her arms were wrapped around my torso, her face buried against my chest. I smoothed her hair and kissed the top of her head.
I heard Jade moving behind me, and then she spoke. “I’m going to find that host. Maybe he can give us another round of tea or sandwiches. Food always helps with sorrow.”
Then she disappeared, giving Emilie and me a moment alone.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Yes. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t even know them. I didn’t see them die. I have no idea why I’m crying like this.”
I huffed a laugh. “Because you care, princess. You know what it’s like to suffer, and it hurts to see others doing the same.”
“It’s more than that. I don’t know how to explain it, though.”
“Try.”
“It’s like… this feeling in my soul, deep inside me, ripping me from reality and taking me back to that drawing room.
It felt like I was there, being tortured all over again.
It was a reminder of everything she is capable of and everything she put us through.
I can feel their hands and their eyes—” Her voice broke.
“Shh,” I said softly. “It’s not real. You’re here with me. You’re safe.”
She pulled back far enough to look me in the eye. “She has to pay for what she has done.”
“She will. I promise.”
Moments later, Jade came back with the host at her side.
He left a tray of mini sandwiches on a stand along with a pitcher of water and some glasses.
Then he pointed at the appetizers. “These are the King’s favorite.
Jade filled me in on what happened, and I think he’ll want some when he’s ready to see you again. They were the Queen’s favorite too.”
“What happened to her?” Emilie asked.
The host hung his head. “After the twins’ disappearance, she was bedridden with grief for nearly a year.
King Vincent did everything in his power to find them and bring them home, but as you know, it was never enough.
In the end, when he couldn’t bring home her beloved children, she decided that they must’ve already passed on to the next life. And so she chose to go with them.”
Instantly, my mother’s face flashed before me. How she’d broken down before me. How hard was it for her while I’d been held captive? Was there ever a point when she was ready to give up? I doubted it. Cyrus never would’ve let her.
I glanced toward the door that separated me from my brother, wishing it was the only thing keeping us apart. Would he have fought so hard for my life if he knew what I had done?
Probably. He was noble in that way.
The door suddenly opened, and Cyrus appeared, eyes fixed on me.
I took a step forward, but Cyrus closed the door behind him and stood in front of it like a guard.
“What happened?” I asked.
Cyrus sighed. “He doesn’t wish to speak to us any longer.”
“That’s it, then? He wants us to just leave without Reyna? Let me in. I don’t care if he doesn’t want to talk. He has to—”
“Stop,” Cyrus said. “I didn’t say he wasn’t going to help. Just not in the way we hoped.”
I took a deep breath and waited for Cyrus to explain. How was he going to help if he wasn’t willing to hand over Reyna?
“Vincent said we can search for Reyna on our own. He was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know where she was.
But he’s willing to look the other way if we track her down on our own and force her out of Baumheim.
He also said that if we happen to commit any crimes during our hunt, we will be pardoned. ”
My brows rose. “Crimes?”
Cyrus cleared his throat. “Yes. Any acts of violence or espionage, etcetera, will be forgiven as long as we do not harm any innocent civilians.”
“That’s great news,” Emilie said.
Jade was quick to ruin it. “We don’t know where she is, though. How are we supposed to search an entire foreign city with no leads? And what if she’s left for the countryside?”
Cyrus held up a hand. “Vincent doesn’t know her exact location, but he has a guess as to where she might be. He said we need to check the Stygian Market. It’s where the dregs of society spend their time, and if Reyna is still in Baumheim, she’s likely in that area.”
“All right then,” I said. “Let’s go to the Stygian Market.”