The king opened his mouth to speak but his words were cut off as the blade slashed across his throat, spraying crimson life onto the ground as he fell forward.

A scream ripped through Helena. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. She’d just witnessed her father’s murder and now she was next.

Her mother stood frozen, tears streaming down her face.

“Check the hall,” Cole shouted.

A hand clamped on her shoulder jerking her back. Smoke streamed from behind them, evidence of the fire they’d set.

Her mother pulled her into a run, rounding the corner into a room Helena knew well. The tunnels. They could get out. The ornate, unused bedroom sat untouched as if not a part of the palace outside its door.

No. She shook her head. Not without her brothers. Her mother pushed aside the painting hiding the entrance to the tunnels and yanked open the secret door before shoving Helena inside. As the door slammed, cutting off all light, the sounds of a fight broke through the darkness.

Helena sank to her knees, tears tracking down her face. She pounded her fists against the tunnel wall until her knuckles turned bloody.

Her mother was over-matched. She had to be. She counted shouts from four different men, including Cole and Ian.

But it wasn’t the noise of battle that killed everything inside her.

It was the silence that followed.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dell’s back slammed against the wall as his brother put a hand to his chest. Reed threw a glance over his shoulder to where a group of soldiers ran by.

“Get off me,” Dell growled. “Unless you want to arrest me and take me to Ian right now.” He held out his wrists. “Come on, brother. Try it.”

Reed stared at him for a moment, his eyes narrowing, before someone slammed into him from behind. A soldier in a Madran uniform fought a palace guard.

Reed gripped the collar of Dell’s shirt and yanked him out of the way, pulling him through an open doorway and kicking it shut behind them.

He released Dell with a shove. “What are you doing here, Dell? Edmund promised me you’d be on the ship leaving Madra.”

Confusion warred with rage inside Dell as he stared at the brother who’d never had a kind word for him. Reed followed Ian’s lead in everything he did. The two of them had tormented him since the day he arrived in the city.

Dell wiped sweat and ash from his face. “Why do you care? You got what you’ve always wanted. You and Ian. Is your mother involved in this too? Being the tip of the spiral wasn’t enough for you. You wanted more. More influence. More power.”