Contents ( 48)
- Dedication
- Map
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Three Months Later
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
- Books by Kiera Cass
- Back Ad
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
With a pained heart that reminded me with every beat that this was all we could ever be, I smiled. “I have always wanted to be your friend, Etan.”
“Good. Now, one more dance I think,” he said quickly, pulling me back onto the floor. “Let’s leave them scandalized, Hollis. These poor people need something to talk about.”
And I laughed, moving eagerly, remembering the way his hand felt in mine.
Twenty-Five
I WAITED IN UNPARALLELED WORRY as Uncle Reid sorted through the letters. For the first time, I saw Scarlet pray. I knew a little about her faith through Silas, through the vows he insisted we speak, through the traditions that seemed to focus more on people than paper. I’d never been what someone might call pious, and I wasn’t even sure if I knew how to pray. If I had, I’d have attempted it long before now.
Still, I folded my hands together and said the only thing I could think of. “Please.” It wasn’t much, but I couldn’t have said anything with deeper sincerity. I sat, head and heart bent down in desperation. “Please.”
A moment later, Uncle Reid emerged from his room, a score of opened letters in his hand. We all sprang to our feet in anticipation.
“Hollis, do you know if Valentina read any of these before she gave them to you?”
“No, sir, I don’t.”
He sighed and set them on the table before us. “Let’s hope not. No one should have to read how much their husband is paying to kill their families.”
I gasped. “That’s in there?”
He nodded. I knew he wanted proof; we all did. It was another thing entirely to have to go through all the details.
“Some of these are inconsequential, but several of them put the king’s hand on many of the prominent deaths caused by the so-called Darkest Knights in recent memory, including Valentina’s parents. We have names of victims, and I think identities of at least two of the murderers. If this is what Valentina could grab and hide in a matter of moments, there must be so much more.”
His heart was undeniably heavy. And so was mine. There was one question I needed to ask, had to. Yet I couldn’t find a way to form the words.
But Mother did. “Is Dashiell in there? My boys?”
Uncle Reid shook his head. “There are plenty of deaths not accounted for. That doesn’t mean he’s innocent in them. But the deaths are not the most shocking piece of evidence here,” he said tiredly.
“What could possibly be worse?” Etan asked.
Uncle Reid slowly reached into the pile and held up a single letter. “We wondered why this wedding was so public. It was to mark time. So that the kingdom could presume Phillipa conceived tonight.
“In reality, the king has paid her handsomely to join the royal family. And he has also given a fortune to a peasant girl for her child, one that appears to have been conceived about a month ago.”