Page 86 of A Court Bright and Broken

It was impossible to believe my newly betrothed had decided to leave on her own without a word.

“No one entered through the door—we were on watch all night. Someone would have had to climb to her room from the outside, unlock the window, and climb back down—carrying her—all without anyone hearing or seeing a thing,” Quillen said.

His expression was doubtful.

“What doyouthink happened then?” I asked him.

“There’s more, Your Highness,” he said in a grim tone. “Not far from the shoe, some vials were found. They contained poison. Auspex Pavan says it contains fireweed.”

The breath caught in my throat, and a tingling sensation spread over my skin. Fireweed was the most toxic substance in the realm, second only to iron in its danger to Elves.

“That’s an Earthwife’s weapon of choice,” I said. “Lady Wyn certainly wasn’t one of those.”

Quillen went on. “Nevertheless, all indications are that the lady climbed down on her own.”

“Why would she do that on the night of our betrothal?”

Andwhywould Lady Wyn have vials of poison?

“It makes no sense,” I said.

The two guards shared a furtive glance, clearly reluctant to speculate.

Just then Pharis rounded the corner, coming from the hallway where his suite was located. When he spotted us congregating in the hall, his brows lifted in surprise.

“What’s this then? An early meeting of the High Council?” he quipped as he approached us.

When no one laughed, his jovial expression fell. “What’s happened?”

I filled him in on what the guards had told me.

“What do you know? The rose had thorns,” he quipped, obviously assuming the poison belonged to Lady Wyn.

“We don’t know that. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the victim here,” I said.

His expression turned vicious. “She wasclearlyan assassin working for the Earthwives. Four vials, four members of the royal family. This proves what I was saying last night, Stellon. I tried to warn you.”

“Orthe poison belonged to the kidnapper,” I argued. “Who was also an assassin.”

It seemed less plausible when I said it aloud. But what else could it be?

“As my betrothed, Wyn wasalmosta royal. Perhaps the villain targeted her before moving on to the rest of us and was interrupted somehow,” I suggested.

“Then why wasn’t her body found?” Pharis asked. “Why isn’t she dead?”

“Oh gods.” It hadn’t even occurred to me that Lady Wyn might have been killed. I clutched my stomach, the thought of that sweet lady lying dead somewhere making me physically ill.

“She might be. She might still yet be found.”

Ser Quillen shook his head. “Every inch of the palace and grounds has been scoured. If there was a body, hers or otherwise, we would have found it.”

I couldn’t believe we were actually discussing searching for the murdered corpse of my lovely fiancée.

Or the idea that the woman I’d fallen so hard and fast for could be so cold and calculating, that she might have actually come here last night to kill me, not to marry me.

Both scenarios seemed impossible.

“There has to be some other explanation,” I insisted. “If Lady Wyn were an assassin, why didn’t she do the deed? She had plenty of opportunity—with you and me both.”

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