Page 57 of Royal Fate

“Understood.”

He hung up and faced me, his complexion as wan as mine felt.

“I’m sorry, Little Mouse, but I’m afraid we have to go.”

“The kingdom comes first,” I agreed, jumping up from the bed to join his side.

Just being next to him gave me the surge of confidence, our mate bond fueling me with energy and motivation to conquer anything.

Zen put his hands on my shoulders and shook his head. “No. You come first. Which is why we’re rushing back. Agnan obviously has connections in the castle still, and we need to get back and root them out. I need to get you to absolute safety.”

It seemed to me that I was the safest here than I’d been anywhere, but I wasn’t about to suggest that I remain.

“Zen, will we come back here?”

“Of course, my love. We haven’t gotten all the answers we need yet. Your mother would want you to know it all, I’m sure.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and lowered my eyes, moving toward the living room to grab my pack. On a whim, I tucked the leather-bound journal and family tree in my pack to bring back to Silverhold Tower.

I wanted to hear what else my mother had to tell me from beyond the grave.

* * *

It seemedto me that Zen drove back twice as fast as he had driven to the Locaza Forest. We were home well before dawn. He trusted no one but Endora to take me to our suite and enlist a shroud of protection around the entire royal floor as he dealt with his guards.

“What did you learn in the woods?” the enchantress asked me, but I wasn’t ready to share my family's secrets with anyone yet.

“Let’s find the prisoners first, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” I bargained.

Endora scowled at me. “You wouldn’t have even gone there if it weren’t for me.”

“No. It was my repressed memories that led us there,” I countered. “And your failed leadership that lost the Order of Souls in our custody. We need to slay one dragon at a time.”

Her black eyes narrowed. “Zen is rubbing off on you,” she grumbled.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I purred back.

Huffing, she vanished, and I was left alone to peruse my mother’s journal in peace.

She must have been so young when her own parents were taken from her, I realized, my heart panging with understanding. Why does history keep repeating itself?

But I recognized that it would continue to repeat itself until someone managed to stop the offenders. The Order of Souls had already ruined one royal family and half of another. Agnan would not rest until he had finished what he’d started. That much I knew already.

Zen and I would stop him.

But how? How did one take down such an old organization that had managed to stay hidden for so long?

Another idea came to fruition, but it was one that Zen would never agree to, not in a million years.

But to catch a snake, I would need to think like a snake, and I knew just how a snake like Agnan thought.

Chapter17

Zen

To my utter shock, Cyndella confronted me when I entered my study to deal with my guards after securing Mirielle on the royal floor. I was so unaccustomed to seeing my sister out in the castle, I could only endure her tirade for a moment while I collected my composure.

“Where the hell have you been?” my sister screamed at me, her face red and puffy as if she’d been crying. “I was out of my mind with worry!”

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