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Josiah blew out a breath. “And it turns out...” He pointed a finger straight at her. “I’m not sure I’m really supposed to know this, so you can’t tell anyone else. Okay?”

Bekah nodded. “Okay.”

“They’re not sure Isaiah is dead. After a... thing, a situation I’m not supposed to talk about, he was seen going overboard while bleeding profusely. There were some sort of sharks in the area. Sharks that have been known to eat people before. His remains were never found so the assumption has always been that he was eaten by the sharks.”

Realization dawned. “But they can’t prove it, so they’re always half looking over their shoulders wondering if he’s coming back.”

“I guess. I don’t know who else knew that, but I certainly didn’t. It would have been nice to know.” He sat up then leaned forward resting his forearms on his knees. “I get why they haven’t told very many people, but I still think they should have told those of us living on our own with little to no security on a regular basis. Then we could be on the lookout ourselves.”

“I’m sure they had a reason,” Bekah pointed out, trying to be diplomatic. “The more people know a secret, the more likely it is to be leaked, even if you trust all of the people who know. Something could inadvertently slip.”

“I know. I get it. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

A knock on the door caused both of them to look over.

“Come in,” Josiah called.

The door opened to let the king, his head of security, and Thor in.

“We have something else we need to discuss with both of you,” Benjamin told them. “Would you like to talk here or come down to the outer area to my quarters?”

Bekah shrugged.

Josiah glared at them then stood. “I don’t want my home sullied by this conversation.”

He put his hand on Bekah’s back as they exited the apartment and went down the hall to a door she hadn’t noticed before - that’s how well it was hidden within the design of the wall. Inside was something like the lobby of a high-end hotel - or what Bekah imagined it would be like anyway. Dark wood, plush leather chairs and sofas. Paintings of kings of the past lined the walls. She should probably brush up on her Eyjanian royal history.

Once they were all seated, Benjamin took over again. “There is another piece of disturbing information that has come to our attention.”

“What’s that?” Josiah asked, snark filling his voice. “Papa isn’t really dead either?”

The glare Benjamin and Thor both sent his way told Bekah all she needed to know about how that remark hit home.

Josiah immediately deflated, his shoulders slumping. “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t think that. I just lashed out, and I shouldn’t have. I apologize.”

Both of the other men simply nodded.

“It seems that Steve recruited someone else to his cause.” Benjamin tapped on a tablet a few times. “Unfortunately, Rebekah, it’s someone you know well.”

A thousand thoughts flew through her head. It couldn’t be her parents or her brother. One of their other friends? No name that entered her mind then left just as quickly could be right.

Then Benjamin handed the tablet to her.

Bekah gasped and blinked trying to take it in.

“Ian?” she whispered. “He was scheming with Steve to get to my sister?”

“We believe so,” Benjamin told her. “We’re not certain yet, but it looks that way.”

The churning in her stomach intensified. “Where’s a trash can?”

She managed to get the question out as the churning turned even more violent.

When she tried to remember it later, she couldn’t. Bekah just knew that as she retched, as tears flowed down her cheeks, someone held something for her to lose what little breakfast she’d eaten into. Someone held her hair. Someone rubbed her back.

When the heaves subsided, she sat back on her haunches, uncertain when she’d moved into a kneeling position on the floor.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I swear, I didn’t know.”