"I want to see the body."
Kael's voice was flat, emotionless. But I could see his hands shaking as he pulled on his boots. Could see the darkness gathering around him, his shade, responding to his grief and rage.
"Your Highness, I don't think that's wise" the captain began.
"I don't care what you think is wise." Kael's gray eyes flashed. "Lady Morgana was the closest thing I had to a family after my mother died. I will see her. Now."
The captain looked helplessly at me, as if I might be able to control my husband. I couldn't. And I wouldn't try.
"We'll both come," I said, reaching for the cloak someone had left for me. My feet were still barewe really needed to find me shoesbut that seemed insignificant now.
"Princess, the scene is... disturbing," the captain warned.
"Then I'll be disturbed." I moved to Kael's side. "We go together. Remember?"
Kael glanced at me, and some of the darkness in his expression softened. "Together," he agreed.
Lady Morgana's chambers were in the east wing of the castle, far from the royal apartments. We walked through corridors that grew progressively quieter, darker. Fewer servants. Fewer guards. This was the old part of the castle, where the stones themselves seemed to remember ancient sorrows.
"She liked it here," Kael said quietly as we walked. "Said the newer parts of the castle were too noisy, too full of intrigue and politics. Here, she could have peace."
"How long had she known your mother?"
"Since they were children. They grew up together in the northern provinces, before Mother married Father." His voice was tight. "When Mother died, Morgana was the only one who mourned her properly. Everyone else just... moved on. Like she'd never existed."
We reached Lady Morgana's door. Two guards stood outside, their faces pale and sick-looking. Whatever was inside had shaken even hardened soldiers.
"Your Highness, perhaps the princess should wait" one of them started.
"No," I said firmly. "I'm going in."
Kael pushed open the door.
The smell hit me first. Blood and something else, something sharp and wrong. Magic, I realized. Dark magic, still lingering in the air like poison.
Lady Morgana lay in the center of her sitting room, surrounded by scattered books and overturned furniture. She'd fought back. But it hadn't been enough.
Her throat had been cut, cleanly and precisely. Professional. But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was the message on the wall behind her, written in her own blood: The cursed prince's allies die first. Who's next?
And below it, a list of names.
Kael's name was at the top, crossed out.
Mine was second.
Then came others I didn't recognize, presumably people Kael cared about, people who'd shown him kindness or loyalty.
All of them were marked for death.
"Gods," I whispered.
Kael said nothing. He just stood there, staring at Lady Morgana's body with an expression of such profound grief and rage that I was afraid his shade would manifest and tear the room apart.
"Who found her?" he asked finally, his voice hollow.
"A servant, bringing her morning tea," the captain said from the doorway. "About an hour ago. We've questioned everyone in this wing. No one saw or heard anything."
"Of course they didn't." Kael knelt beside Morgana's body, gently closing her eyes. "Whoever did this knew how to move unseen. Knew her routines. Knew exactly when and how to strike."
"The same person who sent the creatures last night?"
"Probably. This feels like the same hand." He stood, looking at the bloody message. "They're escalating. Creatures were meant to test our defenses, see how we'd react. This is a declaration of intent."
"They want you to know they can reach anyone you care about," I said slowly, understanding dawning. "They want you afraid. Off-balance."
"It's working." His hands clenched into fists. "Morgana was innocent. She had nothing to do with court politics, with the succession, with any of this. She just wanted to live quietly and honor my mother's memory."
"Which made her a perfect target," the captain said grimly. "Easy to reach, difficult to protect, and her death would hurt you personally. Whoever's behind this understands psychological warfare."
Kael turned to stare at the list of names. "These people, all of them need protection. Immediately."
"Your Highness, we don't have the resources to guard everyone on that list. Some of them don't even live in the castle, they're scattered across the kingdom."
"Then bring them here. All of them. Put them in the secure wing under constant guard."
"That will take days. And in the meantime"
"In the meantime, we work on the problem from the other end." I spoke up, an idea forming. "We figure out who's behind this and stop them before they can kill anyone else."
Both men looked at me.
"Princess, with respect, you're not trained for investigation" the captain began.
"No, but I can think. And I can observe. And I'm new here, which means people might talk around me, assuming I'm harmless." I looked at Kael. "You said I needed to learn court politics. Consider this my first real lesson."
"Elara, this is dangerous"
"Everything here is dangerous." I gestured at the bloody message. "My name is on that wall, Kael. Second, right after yours. Whoever's doing this will come for me whether I investigate or not. At least if I'm actively working to stop them, I have some control."
He studied me for a long moment. Then, incredibly, he smiled. A small, sad smile, but genuine. "You're going to give me gray hair."
"You already have gray eyes. We're halfway there."
That startled a laugh out of himshort and bitter, but real. "All right. We investigate together. But we do it carefully, and you don't take any risks without telling me first."
"Same goes for you."
"Deal."
The captain cleared his throat. "If you're both quite finished, we need to secure this scene and notify His Majesty"
"No." Kael's voice was sharp. "We don't tell my father. Not yet."
"Your Highness, a member of the court has been murdered. The King must be informed"
"The King must be investigated," I corrected. "He's on that list of suspects just like everyone else. Maybe more than everyone else."
The captain's face went pale. "Princess, you can't possibly suggest—"
"I can and I am. King Aldric has a motive controlling his son. He has access to magic and resources. And he has the opportunity to know where we'd be, when we'd be vulnerable." I crossed my arms.
"Until we rule him out, we tell him nothing."
"This is treason," the captain whispered.
"This is survival," Kael said. "And the princess is right. My father is a suspect. So are my brothers. So is half the court." He looked at the captain directly. "Can I trust you? Really trust you? Because if I can't, if you're going to run to my father the moment we leave, then we need to know now."
The captain was silent for a long moment, clearly wrestling with his conscience. Loyalty to the crown versus loyalty to the prince. Duty versus instinct.
"Your mother saved my daughter's life once," he said finally. "Used her healing magic when the physicians had given up. I swore an oath to her that I'd look after her son. So yes, Your Highness. You can trust me."
Relief flooded Kael's face. "Thank you, Captain. What's your name?"
"Marcus, Your Highness. Captain Marcus Thorne."
"Well, Captain Thorne, you're part of this now. Welcome to the conspiracy."
We spent the next hour examining Lady Morgana's chambers, looking for clues. Captain Thorne helped, his soldier's eye catching details I would have missed.
"The window was forced open from outside," he noted, pointing at scratches on the frame. "But we're three stories up. No rope, no ladder. Whoever came in this way had to climb the wall."
"Or fly," I said, only half-joking.
"Actually, that's possible," Kael said. "There are spells that allow short-term levitation. Difficult magic, but not impossible for someone with training."
"So we're looking for a magic user with assassination skills and access to the castle," Captain Thorne summarized. "That narrows it down to... approximately everyone at court."
"Not quite everyone." I knelt beside Lady Morgana's desk, which had been knocked over in the struggle. Papers were scattered everywhere, letters, notes, what looked like journal entries. "She was writing something when she was attacked. Look."
I held up a half-finished letter, the ink smeared where her hand had slipped. It was addressed to someone named Elena in the northern provinces, and it read:
Dearest Elena,
I fear I've made a terrible mistake. I discovered something yesterdaysomething about the Queen's death all those years ago. Something that changes everything I thought I knew. I tried to tell Kael, but he was summoned away before I could speak with him properly. I should have been more insistent. Should have written it down sooner.
If anything happens to me, you must tell him the truth: his mother didn't kill herself. She was murdered. And I know who