Page 9 of The Queen's Crown
“Princess Alina’s lady’s maid went to wake her for breakfast,” the steward replied. “When the princess didn’t stir, the lady’s maid shook her, finding her cold. The king came in with his doctor, and the princess was declared dead.”
“Had she been ill?” the king asked, taking a step toward the steward.
“No,” he replied. “She, uh, appeared to have been poisoned.”
Sabine blinked, trying to look at the steward and make sense of all he said.
“Someone assassinated my daughter?” the king said, his voice a simmering rage about to blow over.
“We believe so.” The steward handed the king a letter. “The details are in here. King Rainer is conducting a full investigation. The person responsible for her murder will be brought to justice.”
The wordmurdersunk like a rock into Sabine’s stomach.
“Easy,” Viktor murmured in her ear, holding her upright.
“Someone in Lynk killed my sister?” Karl said as he moved to stand beside his father.
“We don’t know what kingdom the murderer is from,” the steward replied.
Murder. Alina was dead. Killed. In Lynk. A ringing noise sounded in Sabine’s ears, and she no longer heard what anyone else said. Her entire body shook. This could not be happening. It had to be an error. No, a nightmare. One she needed to wake up from. Her sister couldn’t be dead. Alina didn’t deserve this.
Sabine vomited.
“Get the queen and princess inside,” the king demanded. “Have the Lynk steward escorted to the throne room. Karl, Rolf, Otto, and Viktor, you’re with me.”
A Bakley soldier rushed over to Sabine, taking hold of her arm, and ushering her inside.
Her body felt numb. Tears streamed down her face and her head began to pound. This could not be happening. Alina couldn’t be dead. It was just a nightmare. Or some sick and twisted joke.
The soldier took Sabine to her bedchamber where a servant helped her sit on the chair near the window.
Sabine couldn’t move. It felt as if worms were burrowing into her body.
The queen’s screams pierced the silence of the castle.
She wished for darkness to swallow her whole.
Sabine didn’t leave her bedchamber for three days. Her stomach felt too queasy to consider eating. Besides, there was no reason to be around anyone else. Her grief was impossible to handle, nearly unbearable, so there was no way she could see her own pain mirrored in her family members. Standing at her window, she maintained watch of the road leading to the castle, knowing her sister’s body was on its way. She prayed that when it arrived, Alina would be alive and well. That this entire thing had been a terrible misunderstanding. That Alina was simply in some sort of deep sleep. Not dead. Notmurdered.
Someone knocked on her door. “Come in,” she whispered, unable to speak any louder.
“Sabine,” Karl said as he stepped into her room. His eyes were red, his hair disheveled, his clothes wrinkled. It looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. “I need you to go see Mother. She hasn’t gotten out of bed or eaten in three days.”
Sabine was in no position to help. She didn’t know how to comfort someone else when she felt the same. She turned away from Karl, not wanting to see his grief, and instead focused again on the road outside. “Is there any new information?” she asked, placing her palm on the glass. It was cold. She removed it, surprised she could feel anything at all.
“No. We’re hoping once the rest of our soldiers return that they’ll have more details.” Karl came to stand at the window beside her. “Father thinks someone from Carlon did this.”
“Why?” She thought the same thing since raiding parties from Carlon were coming into their kingdom to steal food and kidnapping their children. But she wanted Karl to explain it to see if he had any additional insight as to why they might be doing this to them.
Karl peered at her. “I think King Rainer did it.”
That didn’t make sense. “Doesn’t he need an heir and our food? Why destroy an alliance that benefits him so greatly?” And from what she’d gathered from Alina, Rainer had been the one to reach out to them with the proposal.
“Carlon could have killed Alina on her journey to Lynk,” Karl said. “It would have been much easier to attack a carriage with only a dozen soldiers than it would be to sneak into a fortified palace and poison someone. She was killed in Rainer’s home. It had to be an inside job, so if it wasn’t Rainer, then it had to have been someone from his kingdom.”
“Or Carlon wants to place the blame on King Rainer.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. The kingdom of Lynk is nearly impossible to get into.”
