Page 81 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 2

I thank Jemima for helping me out of the clothing I wore to the House Rothorne apartments and dismiss her, heading back into the room I'm sharing with Linc. Technically, it's his room, but after all the nights I've already spent here, it doesn't feel like that, even if we haven't even been married for less than a day.

Somehow, it feels a lot longer than that.

"Come to bed, Bea," Linc says from where he's already sitting, with Pip next to him, her head on his knee. It seems fair to say that the rest of our wedding night is going to be spent doing much less fun activities than I had planned.

"How can I sleep?" I murmur.

"I don't know, but you can rest," he responds. "It'll feel better in the morning."

I let out a harsh laugh. "Which part will feel better? That Thomas is dead? That Bella is heartbroken? That my brother is so convinced that he might be assassinated that he killed someone just in case?" I sit down on the edge of the bed and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Do you believe that your brother thought it was an assassination attempt?" Linc asks.

"Do you?"

He shrugs. "It doesn't seem likely that anyone would want to kill him yet. In twenty years, maybe. But unless he's made some powerful personal enemies, it seems unlikely that anyone would want him dead so soon."

"Maybe for political gain?"

"Except that doesn't make sense. There are only two people who have anything to gain politically from Bastian's death. Lord Fallmartin, and you."

"Me?"

"You're next in line to be the head of House Rothorne after Bastian. Your position would be raised as the heir to a powerful House," he reminds me.

"More so than being a princess?"

"I think that would depend on Lord Fallmartin and how he reacted. If he started grooming you to take over, then yes. If he brought another son to court at the next Golden Moon, maybe not."

"Which do you think he'd do?"

"Neither, at this point. He's too focused on getting us into position and making sure he can gain power then. Even if he disapproves of some of how Bastian's behaving, it's not anything he's going to bother with an assassination over. Especially now."

"Hmmm."

"You're not convinced?" Linc asks.

"I am. From everything I've learned since coming to court, it doesn't really seem as if Bastian is acting particularly differently from any of the other new heirs."

"The only other person that might seem like a potential person to have him assassinated would be someone from my family. But considering that our marriage contract changes things so that you would inherit House Rothorne in your own right and it wouldn't merge with House Soveguine, I doubt my father has any actual motivation to make that happen."

"So why is Bastian so convinced that he's going to be assassinated that he's turned Thomas into a pin cushion at the slightest hint of it?" I ask, wishing that I could at least have some sort of understanding about why my brother did what he did.

"Has he been prone to paranoia before?" Linc asks.

I frown. "Not noticeably, but I'm also not entirely sure what that would look like. He's always had a temper."

"Mmm, I remember that." He touches his nose.

I lift my hand and trail a path over his face, hating the memory of what it was like to see Bastian attack Linc.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "So Bastian is paranoid, and that's the reason that Thomas is dead?"

"We don't know that," Linc says quietly. "Is there a chance that Bastian meant to do it?"

"You think my brother planned to murder a member of his own family?"

"Do you think he's capable of it?"