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“Do you know where the king is?”

“Fighting on the border. Near the Veil. There was an outbreak there. Who is this?”

Rothan exchanges a look with me. Clearly, the information hasn’t spread.

“No one,” he says, shooting me an apologetic glance.

I don’t mind. “I’ll stay here while you fetch the king.” My bracelet is glowing brighter, and I hide it under my cloak.

“I’ll be back.” Rothan nods at me before hurrying off into the distance.

The two guys look me up and down before one of them says, “Are you a maid?”

I shake my head. “I am a messenger. If you don’t mind, I’d like to relieve myself.”

The guards look uncomfortable. “There are no facilities in the hut, but if you go over there, to the edge of the forest, it’s still safe. Just use the bushes on the outskirts. Don’t enter past the marker.”

I was hoping that was what they would say. They’ve just made this so much easier for me. “Excuse me, then. Please don’t look.”

The two men flush and turn their backs to me. I head to the edge of the forest, and my heart beats with excitement as I see the glow of the bracelet intensifying. It’s pulling me toward the trees. Coming to stand at its edge, I look at the gloomy-looking forest. Monsters are roaming in there. Harriet once told me that nobody has ever survived this place.

I swallow. I’ll take my chances. Because this is the only option that I have left. I’m sure the other parts of the Veil are properly guarded. Nobody’s going to let me through anywhere else.

Throwing one last look over my shoulder, I disappear into the Misty Forest.

Goodbye, Cedric.

Chapter 11

Cedric Raine

The sun is setting as we head back to camp.

The monsters have been rampaging, but I’ve finally managed to control some of the chaos. Covered in blood, I enter the large tent. I need a bath. The smell of the mutated monster blood is a pungent one. It irritates my nose.

However, I suddenly see the last person I expected to, standing in the middle of my tent.

“Rothan?!” It takes me a second to comprehend his presence here, and when I do, fear strikes me. “What happened to Leanna?”

“What?” He gives me a baffled look. “You’re the one who sent the order—” He shakes his head as if trying to sort out his thoughts. “I brought her here. I know it’s a violation of your order, but my mother insisted. I tried to contact you, but Bella has blocked all means of communication. This was the only thing I could do.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What order?” I stare at him. “Why did you bring Leanna here? Where is she?”

“I thought you would want to do it privately,” Rothan says. He doesn’t look happy. “I left her at the guard hut near the forest so I could speak with you alone first.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Do what privately?”

“Execute her.”

Without thinking, I have him by the throat and am slamming him into the table in the center of the big tent.

“Say that again!” I snarl.

The loud sounds have the others rushing in. Edgar and Derrick look equally surprised to see Rothan. “What’s going on?” Edgar asks.

“This fool says he brought my mate here so that I can execute her!”

Derrick stares at Rothan. “Are you drunk? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Edgar, however, is studying Rothan, who is struggling to breathe. “Don’t kill him, Cedric. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

I reluctantly release the man, and he clutches his throat, panting. “I saw the execution letter! Your seal was on it!”

“Bella has my seal!” I snap as my blood runs cold. I repeat more slowly, “Bella has my seal. Are you telling me she forged a letter to have Leanna executed?! That fucking bitch! And you just went along with it?”

“What did you expect me to do?” Rothan says furiously. “Anything with your seal on it is a direct order. I disobeyed it by coming here in the hope that you would change your mind. With the real princess back—”

“What?!” I can’t think straight, and Edgar decides to intervene.

“Everybody calm down. Rothan, what’s been happening at the castle?”

Rothan stares at us. “You mean, you don’t know?”

“We will if you tell us!” Derrick says tightly. “Start talking.”

“Princess Vivian arrived, the real one, a few days ago. She showed up with a couple of her maids. She told Bella who she was, and Bella immediately rounded up the elders and told them that Leanna was an imposter and that we hadn’t known about it. That Leanna had the king fooled. Bella had her thrown into a cell in the dungeon. Your mate was tortured, Cedric. My mother protested and was locked in her room. I was out of the castle on business. When I returned, I found out what was going on when one of the maids told me. But it was too late. I couldn’t go down to the dungeon because Bella threatened to lock me up, too.”

Edgar frowns. “Even then, even if Bella says all that, she has no right to execute Leanna!”

“She says she does. She says she’s the delegate, and as such, she has the right to make decisions on the king’s behalf when it comes to the elders. If they make a pronouncement, it is up to her discretion how to carry it out. She and the princess pushed the elders for execution. No”—Rothan’s voice grows hard—“mutilation and execution. They wanted her to be killed by wolves, torn apart in an arena. She then brought the letter with your seal on it.”

A fury unlike any other fills me, and I turn around to glare at Derrick. My friend is pale, with guilt in his eyes. “This is the woman you wanted me to trust. I never should have listened to you!”

Derrick falls to the ground, on his knees. “I’m sorry. I had no idea she would go so far as—”

“The reason she ordered an execution on my behalf, without even informing me, was to get Leanna out of the way. She knew I would never agree to it.”

Derrick is silent, and I look back at Rothan. “Did Leanna believe that she was going to be executed?”

“Yes,” he admits, his voice heavy. “She’s waiting for you at the hut to kill her. She believes that you will at least be merciful.”

I punch him in the face, and he goes falling backward.

Edgar restrains me. “Stop. Just calm down. She’s here, Cedric. We can sort this whole thing out.”