With Hojat leading the way, he carries Rissa out of the garden and into the castle, disappearing from view.
“What the fuck happened?” I ask as soon as he’s gone. There’s a blood spot and the impression of Rissa’s body still left on the grass. My eye catches on a glint of something else further in the distance, but a worker walks over it before setting a bucket down beside the blood and starts to wash it away. When I squint in the dark, whatever I’d seen before is gone.
Warken watches as the menders lift the dead guard’s body and carry it inside before he answers. “The patrol that came through the garden alerted me. When we came out, we found the guard and the woman. I sent for you immediately.”
“The working theory is that the guard followed her out here. Perhaps he was jealous or possessive of her, and so he killed her before slitting his own throat,” Isalee says.
“It wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened to a woman. Especially a beautiful one,” Barley says.
“Yeah, but here?” Keg says with a shake of his head. I know he’s been spending time with his family since he returned with the rest of the soldiers, and I bet he didn’t expect to see violence like this outside of the army.
“Do you know the guard personally?” I ask my Premiers.
Isalee shakes her head. “Just the basics. We’ll look through his file, but as you know, no one is allowed to serve who’s had a history of violent attacks or aggressive behavior.”
“The lady hasn’t been here that long,” Ryatt points out. “How could the guard get infatuated with her so quickly?”
“It happens,” Keg says. “My brother and I have had to beat off more than a few men who couldn’t take no for an answer from Barley.”
A nearby guard pushes his way forward. “Holman wouldn’t have done that!” he says, face blotchy with emotion. He’s young, probably only twenty or so, and the way he sniffs and rubs his nose on his sleeve tells me that he knew the guard personally.
“How did you know Holman?” Isalee asks.
“He was my best friend,” he says with another sniff. “I’m tellin’ you, I know how this looks, but it wasn’t him. He wouldn’t have done that. He fancied a few of the women here, sure, but he never said anything about the lady. He would’ve told me.”
I nod, and my eyes drift behind him to where Marcoul, my head guard, comes walking over and tugs the man away.
“What do you think?” I ask Isalee and Warken with a lowered voice. “Do you want help looking into it?”
“No, we’ll handle it,” Isalee replies.
With a nod, I say, “I need to go tell Auren. I left her sleeping earlier. She’ll want to be in the mender’s wing while Hojat works on Rissa.”
Ryatt comes with me back inside the castle, my brow furrowed as we head upstairs. “You don’t think the guard did it, do you?” he asks quietly so that none of the staff hears.
“No, I don’t.”
I’m not sure why, but I have a bad feeling in my gut.
“I don’t either. Something just isn’t sitting right.” We’re quiet until we reach Ryatt’s floor. “I’m going to dip in my room so I can change out of Fake Rip,” he says as we split off. “I’ll meet you down in the mender’s wing.”
With a nod, I turn and go up another flight of stairs, and then cut down the hall to my rooms where I let myself in. Yet when I make it into the bedroom, I find the bed empty. With a churning feeling of unease, I scoop up her cut ribbon from the bedside table and put it in my pocket. In the closet, I see the rumpled remains of the ruby dress she was wearing earlier. I see my black and brown clothes now shiny gold.
And I know.
Right then. That churning feeling in my gut pushes at me, nauseates me. The glint of my clothes makes me immediately think of that glint I thought I saw on the grass outside in the gardens. A thought I dismissed too quickly.
My heart fucking bulges like it’s going to explode, surging with fear and fury.
I check the bathroom. The front sitting room. The private room where we take our meals. The library. The kitchens. The roof. And when I’m up there, with the wind whipping at my face, I’m panting and pounding and fucking panicked. Because she’s not here. She’s not fucking here.
“Sire?”
I spin around to find Marcoul behind me along with several other guards, Ryatt included.
“What’s going on?” my brother asks as he pushes his way forward.