Page 57 of To Save a Kingdom

Aliya startled.

“Your majesties!” One of her sentries sprinted into the room, bowing before them. His ribs heaved as he fought to recover his breath. “Lord Macherall and several of his guards are dead. Their skin is blue, their pupils are constricted and there are burns around their mouths.”

Aliya furrowed her brow. Those didn’t sound like any typical causes of death she was familiar with. Was there some sort of magic at play here? She froze. Had Brooks figured out a way to manipulate the Whisperers to kill in a more selective fashion?

No, it couldn’t be Brooks. If it had been, he’d have targeted the elves, or her. Macherall and his guards were all humans. Brooks had no qualms with his own kind, especially those who had been loyal to Malkov.

Beside her, Elessan could have been carved from granite.

She tensed as she turned to face him. “What does that mean? The blue skin, pupils and burns?”

He didn’t say anything, just continued staring at the messenger as though he could will the man out of existence.

Helpful, El. Very helpful. She bit back a growl of frustration.

“It’s the side effects of poisoning by Faun’s Lock,” Tsara said.

Aliya flicked her gaze to meet the princess’ eyes. “Faun’s Lock?”

“A plant from the southern half of the sun elf forest.” Tsara glanced around the room. “You’d never find any in this region. It’s not surprising you haven’t heard of it.”

Aliya swallowed. But Elessan clearly had.

The guard pointed a finger at Elessan. “He was arguing with Lord Macherall in the courtyard less than an hour ago. He may well have been the last person to see the councilman alive.”

Mages above. Aliya fought the urge to slap her palm to her forehead. “As if he would be stupid enough to leave bodies where they’d be discovered.”

Aliya’s eyes flicked between Elessan and the sentry. There was no way he would’ve been so reckless as to kill one of her own council members with an elven poison when her alliance with the fae was already crumbling. He was politically savvy. He understood those repercussions.

The human cleared his throat. “That’s part of the problem, Your Majesty.”

Elessan wasn’t meeting her eyes, so she gave up and turned her full focus on the messenger. “Oh?”

“We found the bodies in a passage known only to the royals and the palace architects,” he said, shuffling his feet.

Aliya glanced around the castle. “This building is… how many centuries old?” There were at least twenty generations of the Cerel line charted in the genealogy books in Malkov’s old study, and this fortress had always been their seat of power. “Five? Six? Surely the original designers and builders died hundreds of years ago.”

The guard nodded, waiting for her to reach the conclusion he, and no doubt Elessan, had already reached.

“And the only royal who would’ve known about them passed away last week.”

The man chewed on his inner cheek, clearly wishing the ground would swallow them whole.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Roland spat, waving at the messenger as though he were an annoying gnat buzzing around his meal. “He believes your former husband told you of their location, and you informed the mountain elf.”

“What?” Aliya flinched at the high pitch of her voice. She and Malkov had barely had any time to talk prior to or during their marriage ceremony. “Why would Malkov bother telling me the secrets of his stronghold when he was planning to murder me on our wedding night?”

“I understand the narrative, Your Majesty,” the guard said.

The narrative? The narrative? Aliya wanted to wrap her fingers around her hair and pull as she screamed. “It is not propaganda to justify his execution, it’s the truth!” She was going to have to purge the castle of guards and staff just to eliminate the Cerel plague. Until then, there would always be people who doubted her. But she couldn’t start her reign by wiping out her entire nobility and the surrounding populace.

She turned to Elessan, grabbing his arm and spinning him to face her. “Elessan?” She waited for him to meet her gaze. Did you do it? She didn’t say the words out loud, but hoped they were written clearly enough on her face.

He nodded. “I was talking with Macharell.”

Something about the way he said talking made her think there was more to it, but she didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue.

“But I didn’t kill him, much less stash him in some secret tunnel. Plus, when would I have gotten my hands on Faun’s Lock? I haven’t been back to the sun elf kingdom for years.”