Page 49 of Contested Crown

I set mine on the table and leaned back, stretching my arm along the back of the couch and my legs out, taking up as much space as I possibly could.

“When did you leave? Cade’s never mentioned you. Neither did Leon.” When she frowned at me, my lips parted, revealing a hint of teeth.

She licked her lips and carefully replaced her cup on the dish. “After Cade’s parents died, I knew something was wrong at the house. I would have nightmares… terrible dreams. But when I pressed Leon about it, he kept saying that I was imagining things. Then I saw the shadows move. He did too! I know he did. His eyes moved to follow it. I asked him about it, and he said he hadn’t seen anything.”

She was frowning, brows drawn together. Abruptly, she put her teacup and saucer on the table, the dark tea sloshing over the lip.

“You might not remember this, Cade. You were young, and everyone knew that your parents’ death had changed you. But I did try and speak to you, to find out how you were doing. You said you were fine. I thought perhaps Leon was right. Perhaps I was going mad.” She swallowed, lacing her fingers together and twisting. “So Valentina and I fled. She didn’t… she hadn’t seen anything, but she believed me.”

Larissa let out a dry laugh. “I wasn’t mad, was I?”

Cade stared at her for long enough that Larissa’s brittle smile cracked, leaving her expression concerned.

Finally, he said, “No. My parents’ magic remained in the house after their death.”

“What?” She drew in a breath, her hand going to her chest. “Impossible. Their magic should have returned to the ley lines.”

Cade nodded. He drew in a breath, letting it out. He looked like he had a question, but not one he would ask, so I asked for him.

“Did you know Leon killed Cade’s parents?” I asked.

Larissa stiffened, her gaze first going to my naked throat before she dragged it up to my eyes. She swallowed. “I suspected. It was too neat. Leon had been in the king’s ear to avoid contact, to keep from any acknowledgment that Elena Castillo was Emperor Wolf in everything but name. She had the support of every major pack, the support of even some of the minor mage houses. If House Bartlett had acknowledged her… well, then she would have been emperor before the month was out.”

“So she didn’t have any reason to kill Cade’s parents,” I said, pressing. She knew more; shehadto—she’d been Leon’swife.

“That I don’t know. You know how political spouses are.” Her sigh was for Cade, her eyes gliding over me like oil on a hot pan. “We were still trying for children then. I was only fifty-five, and some women can have children into their sixties! But Leon and I weren’tclose. He didn’t include me in his plans.”

Cade was rigid. His face had gone bone white when I mentioned my mother, and his hands tightened in his lap. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it. I should let it go. Ihadto let it go when Cade looked like every question was dragging him back into a past that hurt just as much now as it had eleven years ago.

But I couldn’t let it go, not when someone in front of me might have the answers I desperately needed.

“Could he have framed the Castillos? Had Jesaiah or someone else kill the king and queen?” I asked.

“Perhaps, but I don’t know,” Larissa said. “Leon was very focused on what he thought he deserved.”

“I know what I saw,” Cade said sharply. I startled at his tone. He was cold, nearly vindictive. “Elena Castillo killed my parents.”

For a second, we all sat with that, the quiet eaten up by memories none of us could let go of.

“What do you mean, what Leon deserved?” I asked, trying a different tack.

“Leon was considered the heir apparent before your father was born, Cade,” Larissa said. “Everyone thought he’d inherit the throne. He was the son of the king’s brother. He had the lineage, but then your father was born. The king’s second wife had more luck than his first. Your father was the perfect prince, even as a child. Polite, well-spoken, charming. Even though his powers were never as strong as Leon’s, the throne was his.”

“Jealousy?” I said. Part of me was disappointed. Two families ruined over the scramble for a crown and power. It was so typical.

“Yes.” Larissa frowned. She looked down and picked up her teacup.

“How did you end up here?” Cade asked. “No one ever talks about you anymore, and you’re right. After my parents’ death, I remember very little.”

“Well, as I said, the house was unbearable, and Leon convinced me I was going mad. I thought, even with Valentina taking most of my magic, I must be close to the edge. I couldn’t let them kill me, so I fled.” She tilted the liquid in her cup, examining it. “Wefled. None of the other houses would take us in. They knew I was married to Leon, so any arrangement would be subject to the laws that said my magic, my offspring, everything that wasminebelonged toHouse Bartlett.”

She spat the last, as though the name itself had become a curse.

“It seems like one house was willing to take you in,” I said, gesturing to her rooms. “With a pretty good setup too. What did it cost?”

She smiled, looking around. “Nothing. House Morrison took me in and asked for nothing in return. By the time I reached them, every other house in California had rejected me. I thought they would too, but Howard said I was welcome for as long as I wanted to stay.”

I exhaled sharply. “See, in my experience, nothing comes free. Not apartments like this, not safety. So, what did you pay?”