All the tables were empty.

Queen Ingir bent over one of her herb pots and poured a trickle of water from a small ewer.

“Ah. Melder Bien. You’re safe. How glad I am to see it.”

My heart bruised my ribs. “Is there any reason I wouldn’t be, Highness?”

Ingir’s red-stained lips curled. She said nothing, but Baldur spun on Kael, a narrow dagger leveled under his chin.

“What are you—” Kael’s words cut off when Baldur nudged the point of the blade deeper, drawing blood.

“Stav Darkwin, you are to be tried for the murder of Ser Tomas Grisen, a nobleman of Myrda.”

“What!” I tried to reach for Kael, but another of Baldur’s guards pulled me back. “He didn’t. No, stop. He had nothing to do with Tomas’s death.”

Gods, where was Roark?

Ingir’s gentle hands curled around my shoulders, drawing me close. “I know, my girl. It is troubling to hear, no doubt.”

“No!” I tried to shirk her hands, but the queen only tightened her grip. “He did not do it. He was with me the whole night. Stop.” My voice grew shrill and desperate when a Stav kicked at the back of Kael’s leg, knocking him to his knees.

They rid him of his blade and weapons in the next breath.

“I did not kill him,” Kael gritted out.

Baldur chuckled. “You are a known liar, a man who ought to have been tried for treason for hiding the melder. Why would I believe you?” The captain turned toward me, a cruel grin on his face. “Keep him in chains until we see if someone else might give him a chance for a different fate.”

The five remaining Stav surrounded Kael. One clamped a set of manacles around his wrists. He shoved. “Lyra! Go. Get to him. Get to him.”

He was telling me to run, to find Roark. Something was horridly wrong here.

I screamed Kael’s name when the guards dragged him away under the command of their captain. I writhed and tugged and clawed.

Queen Ingir hissed when one of my fingernails scratched over her hand. She shoved me aside, but Baldur was there to catch me.

The grin was wicked, ruthless. Every bit as cunning as his namesake of fox.

My eyes narrowed. “He did nothing.”

“I’m sure he didn’t.” Baldur curled a hand around my jaw, squeezing. “But the queen is the authority of Stonegate, and whether he lives or dies now rests on your shoulders.”

I trembled. “Where is the king?”

“We’ll get to that.” Baldur lowered his hand, but kept a firm hold on my arm. “I’ve wanted to truly meet you for some time, Súlka Bien. We’re long overdue for a discussion. Listen closely now, lives may depend on it.”