Stunned, I lowered the pillow to the space between us. “Other than the fires, none of that sounds exactly unexplainable. Those aren’t natural incidents.”

“True.”

“Has anyone been injured?”

“Not seriously.”

Yet went unsaid. “Casteel hasn’t mentioned any of this.”

“I don’t think he—”

“Wanted me to worry?” I finished for him, irritated. “That is going to need to change.”

“In his defense, a lot has happened.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “Does anyone have any idea who is behind this or why?”

“No. And it is bizarre.” Kieran sat up. “Everyone who lives in Atlantia believes in community, the strength and power in that.”

“Obviously, someone doesn’t believe in the strength and power of community,” I remarked, and he nodded. We hadn’t even had time to discuss what happened in the Temple. “Do you think Alastir was involved in any of that?”

“I don’t know.” Kieran exhaled heavily. “I’ve known that wolven my entire life, and I never expected him to do what he did. I haven’t always agreed with him. Neither has my father. But we always thought he was a good man.” He dragged a hand over his head and then looked at me again. “But if he and the others acting on his belief believed they were protecting Atlantia, I don’t understand how damaging crops and businesses would help their cause.”

My gaze fell to the teal-colored pillow, and I forced my grip to loosen. It didn’t make sense to me either, but those actions created unrest. It would ultimately come down to what a person believed they could achieve through the disruption. Thinking of the Ascended, it seemed all too clear to me. The people of Solis lived under constant hardship, and it made them easier to manipulate and control. Alastir had basically been staging a coup, and that would have been easier to carry out if the people of Atlantia were unhappy. But with Alastir and the others gone, could there still be more out there who sought to create strife in Atlantia, and saw me as a threat? Casteel and Kieran had to believe there was a chance. That was why Casteel had handed me the dagger before he left to get food, and was why Kieran sat here now.

What the Duchess had said to me in the carriage and what Alastir had claimed resurfaced like a wraith determined to haunt me.

Kieran reached over, tugging gently on a strand of my hair. “What are you thinking about?”

I let go of the pillow. “Did Casteel tell you what the Duchess said to me before I killed her?”

“No.”

That surprised me, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with Casteel not wanting Kieran to know. There really hadn’t been time for them to talk. “She said that Queen Ileana would be thrilled when she learned that I married Casteel and that I would be able to accomplish what she had never been able to do. That I would take Atlantia.”