Page 71 of Enchanted Kingdom
CHAPTER22
Ifound a spot near a bench twenty feet from where Owen left me. The bench was not right up against the hedge, and I definitely didn’t want to stand on the bench and peek over the top of the tall bushes, but it was still the most discrete way to go about this.
I sat on the bench and played with the leaves and branches, quietly snapping and maneuvering myself a hole, but one that was not big enough to look suspicious. Within a minute, I had a small window to see the path of the forest with. Not that it had done me any good, because I couldn’t see a soul from where I sat spying.
I decided I would wait only a few minutes to see if I saw anything, and then I would do as Owen asked and make my way to my room. I took some deep breaths, realizing I was probably overreacting. Just because a few guards were hustling into the forest, didn’t mean something serious was about to happen. Surely if it was something dangerous, the castle would be locking down, but that wasn’t the case at all. The guards that went running into the forest had left a door to the castle wide open in their haste.
In the distance, I could hear voices. Through my small hole in the hedge, I couldn’t see where the voices were coming from or if Owen was involved. I could only hear the cadence of the words, and they sounded staccato. Angry.
I was just about to get up and move, not wanting to be anywhere near those angry voices, when I saw movement not far off. Two people were walking at a brisk pace, one gripping the other’s arm.
My heart stalled completely when I realized that the one in charge looked to be Keir.
But as they got closer, now only forty feet away, I realized the body was too bulky, it was Prince Krewan and not Keir. They were walking away from the forest path, and I had to scoot along the bench to keep them in view.
“Please!”
I could now hear the man yelling. He sounded pained and utterly terrified. I should have gotten up and ran. I should have done anything but stay frozen to my seat and my little watching hole. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe.
“Please!” he repeated.
Prince Krewan roughly tossed him to the ground.
The man grabbed for his hand. “Please, My Prince.Please.”
And before I knew what was going to happen, Prince Krewan drew a dagger out from behind his back and sunk it into the kneeling man’s chest.
I gasped when I saw the blood.
Prince Krewan turned his head to the side like he had heard it.
So I took that moment to bail out of the seat and my watching position and crouch down on the ground. If I could see Prince Krewan, what if he could see me?
I was fairly certain he hadn’t wanted me to see him murder that man.
Tears dampened my cheeks as I gasped to breathe. I had just seen a man die. I had just seen Prince Krewan drive a dagger into that man’s chest as if he were slicing an apple. One moment that man had been alive, the next he’d been skewered. Gone.
I got to my feet and ran.
* * *
Upon entering my room,I told Silvia I had a headache and laid down. She was kind enough to draw my curtains and get me some medicine and tea.
Owen came in half an hour later to check on me.
I just laid in my bed with my eyes closed, willing myself to breathe easily.
Owen came over to the side of the bed and patted my feet. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Jorah. Truly.”
I took a deep inhale. “Where did you go?”
“The king had apprehended a dis—a traitor. I went to help.”
He went to help kill the man? Though he had his own traitorous thoughts toward our king? How did that even make sense?
“Jorah.”
I opened my eyes.
