Page 49 of Chained

Aradia stared at me, waiting for me to approve, and I nodded my assent, but Zephy’s earlier complaint weighed heavily on me. She didn’t want to feel like a prisoner in her new home, and I didn’t want her to feel like one, either. We needed to find the source of this unprovoked action and nullify it immediately. It unsettled me in the worst way to think that something terrible could have happened to her if I hadn’t been there to stop it.

“We’ll find out why it happened,” Aradia reassured me. “Miss Zephyrine will be as protected as you.”

I said nothing but bobbed my head again, curtly.

“I want to speak with Leonid’s family,” I told them.

“He has no family,” Ryland informed me. “He was alone.”

My frown deepened. “Did he have ties to dark magic at all?”

Ryland and Aradia exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

“Not that we’ve found so far,” Ryland replied.

“Keep looking. Something like this doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. If he’s a loner, maybe he has a manifesto. Maybe he’s always harbored resentment toward the royals. You know how some of these things go.”

“A full investigation is underway as we speak, Cade,” Ryland promised me, and I believed him.

But it still wasn’t good enough.

“Keep me updated,” I told them, spinning away.

“Where are you going?” Aradia asked, sounding surprised at my departure.

“Back to Zephyrine. I don’t want her to wake and be alarmed.”

“That’s a good idea,” Aradia agreed. “Reassure Miss Zephyrine that she is safe.”

I snorted loudly. “If I hadn’t been there…” I growled at her.

“We wouldn’t have let anything happen to her,” Ryland protested, and my eyes narrowed slightly as I looked at him.

Would he have reacted if I hadn’t? It didn’t seem as if anyone else moved when Leonid attacked.

I shoved the unpleasant notion out of my mind and exited the ballroom, making my way toward Zephyrine’s suite again. I was on high alert now. Dark magic or not, no one was going to get to my queen again. I’d personally see to that.

Chapter16

Zephy

“Ihate this,” I complained in a low voice to Maywin.

My maid gave me a sympathetic look, trailing after me in the gardens, three huge guards behind her, two in front of me.

“It’s for the best,” she replied. “There hasn’t been any more trouble since that terrible night at the gala.”

“Maybe that fae was just… I don’t know, cursed or something,” I sighed, wishing the post-mortem results would come through faster.

I was tired of waiting for answers about why Leonid had come after me. According to an investigation conducted by the Royal Guards, they discovered that he shared a house with three other tradesmen, who all called him hardworking and tenacious.

No one considered Leonid anything but a quiet and pleasant soul who wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone attack a queen. They had been shocked to hear he was tangled in dark magic and begged to be left in peace.

He'd had no logical reason to be at the gala at all, and how he had managed to slip through security was also under investigation. But so far, it appeared as though Leonid’s actions were isolated, and he acted on his own. Although, apparently, the attack was completely out of character for him.

None of this was comforting to me in any way.

“All this security is overkill,” I insisted, flopping onto one of the cabana chairs by the pool. “It’s impossible to relax when there are five sets of eyes watching my every move.”

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