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“I won’t fail you again. So if you want to go home, I will take you. I’m sorry I yelled at you. You have no idea how hard it is to believe one thing for years, only to find out I was chasing a ghost all that time,” Kyson whispers while tugging me closer. Kyson buries his face in my neck and nips at my jaw. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, mirroring the ache within his soul.

“She didn’t do it,” I whisper.

“I’m starting to believe you are right. I believe I have spent the last decade chasing a phantom,” Kyson says.

“But if I am right, Kyson. That means someone on your guard or staff did it,” I tell him, and he nods against my shoulder.

“And if you are wrong?” he asks in return.

“Then I will drop it. But I need to be sure. I know Marrissa could have panicked and did it. I am not ruling that out, but with the evidence, it doesn’t make sense why she would wait so long.”

“Because she wasn’t in the castle. She was a gardener and a stable hand before that. She had no access to my sister or me for the first two years,” Kyson says, and I chew my lip. Now Iam questioning everything again, yet the pull to find answers is more vital than ever. But how did Marrissa tie into everything? Because if she was part of it, why would she sacrifice herself to save me?

I turn on his lap, so I can face him, and Kyson grips my face in his hands when I stare down at the small urn in my hands. “Thank you,” I whisper when he tilts my face back up to his. He lets out a breath before pressing his forehead against mine.

“All is not lost as long as we have each other,” he says, pressing his lips to my forehead.

“Come on. We should make arrangements to leave and prepare for the council. I have no doubt that they will be on our doorstep soon. I want to be prepared for when they get here. I don’t want to be surprised again,” Kyson tells me.

“And what of Larkin? Will Damian be punished?”

“Nobecause I am going to show you how to use that voice of yours.”

“How? They have your blood in their system. And what, I just command them to accept that Tandi is to remain here and for him to forget his son?” I ask.

“Well, first you learn how to command me, then once you have mastered that, you show the council who the ruling family is. Who you are,” Kyson tells me.

“You’re going to let me command you?” I laugh, trying to picture him kissing my feet or quacking like a duck.

“Well, when you say it like that, I am not so sure whether I want you commanding me,” he laughs.

“I think I like the sound of making you my bitch,” I laugh, and he growls, snapping and gnashing his teeth at me.

“We’ll see, but first, I want to shower. Then I need to feed you. In case you are right, I don’t want you accepting help from anyone of my guard, only Trey and the Landeena guard, Damian, Liam or me.”

“And Abbie? Though out of all those names, I’m surprised that Liam, your most unhinged guard, is on it.”

“Yes, and Abbie, just until we know who can be trusted, and Liam can be trusted that much I do know because no one loved Claire more than Liam,” Kyson says, and I nod knowing that, but I am surprised he would trust Liam over Dustin when he stands abruptly and his words register.

“Liam loved Claire?”

“Claire was the only woman he loved. Her death broke him, he’s always been crazy, but her death broke something in that man. He was her guard and lover.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” I ask hesitantly, unsure if I can take more pieces to this puzzle.

“Another time, that is not a memory you ask him about either, Azzy, promise. If he wants you to know, he’d tell you, but there is a reason we tolerate Liam’s craziness,” Kyson adds, and I drop the subject, knowing some things aren’t any of my business.

I clutch him tighter, wrapping my legs around his waist and gripping his shoulder with my free hand.

“Come, my Queen. We have a kingdom to raise from the dead.”

“And a council to burn the ground,” I tell him, and he growls.

Chapter

Nineteen

AZALEA