Ascension Saga: 6. Grace Goodwin
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else. I don’t know where they took her. I swear I don’t.”
Damn it. I believed him. I knew I wouldn’t trust such information to a male of his low caliber. “And Lord Wyse? Why does he want the queen now? After all these years? Why not leave her alone on Earth?”
“He needs the royal gemstones. He wants to be king.”
The idea was ridiculous. “Alera has never had a king. Not in thousands of years.”
“Tell that to him,” he countered. Now that he was talking, he’d relaxed, a bit of his arrogance settling back around his shoulders. He even had the nerve to smile as he continued, telling me of his plans to seduce Trinity when she first arrived at his parent’s home, how he’d learned of her Ardor from Lord Wyse and decided to take matters into his own hands. He’d intended to fuck and murder his own cousin. But he’d been late arriving back at the palace and the royal consort had slipped into her bed first.
“You thought, what? That you’d mate your own cousin? Do you fuck your mother as well?”
That had made him angry, and he puffed up, face turning red as he cursed at the male. “No. Fuck you, Thor. Insult my mother again and I’ll—”
“What? Go on. Do tell.” I pressed the flat of my knife into his cheek so that the meat covering his bones edged over the blade, a shallow sliver slicing open from the pressure, just enough to make him wince. “Thor. No. I wasn’t going to fuck her. I do not need a mate. I said I’d seduce her into bed. Get her alone. Then kill her.”
“Lord Wyse needs all four heirs to die, and all four spires to darken before the people will accept him as their new king. Kill Trinity in her bed and there are only three to go.” I said it aloud as I worked through the ludicrous plans. I lifted the blade and didn’t even try to pretend the sight of that small sliver of blood didn’t please me. This bastard had every intention of murdering Faith’s sister, had kidnapped her mother, and would, without hesitation, have moved on to Faith next. He deserved to die. But not yet. I needed more information first. “Take them out one by one?”
He nodded. “Exactly. It wasn’t like my father could seduce her. Trinity had already met him and he’s too old for her. Seduction wouldn’t work.”
“And after?”
“After, it was brought to light that Leo is her mate. Since then, he hasn’t left her side… or her bed. Their bed. I had no chance again.”
“But Zel did, at the royal reception.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything. I knew what happened there, when Trinity had been taken prisoner and nearly killed by one of my mother’s guards. I had already left the reception for the night and, thank the goddess, Leo and Nix had been there to save her. Otherwise, that would have been one more sin, one more death my family was responsible for. I didn’t want or need to hear Pawl’s account of that evening. But Trinity did.
I walked over to a chair and sat, facing him once more, the bloodied dagger twirling in my hand. “You should be thankful, Pawl, for I have no doubt Leo would have made quick work of you if you dared crawl into Princess Trinity’s bed. Especially if you had tried to kill her.”
I saw agreement in his eyes, the hint of fear at the thought of being ripped to pieces by Leo. “I told you about Marish and the queen. What else to you want from me? Let me go! I haven’t killed anyone. I’m not a murderer. You have to let me go.”
“Do I?” I sighed deeply and slid my thumb carefully along the edge of the blade collecting the scant remains of his blood into a small drop. He watched, his eyes glued to the movement as I smeared the blood between my fingertips. “I will promise not to kill you, on one condition.”
“Yes. Whatever you want. Anything. Just let me go.”
“Start talking, Pawl. And start at the beginning. What do you know about the events that led to the king’s death twenty-seven years ago?”
“I wasn’t even born then.”
“But your father and Lord Wyse were adults. And you, now their trusted confidant. Their assassin.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“You kidnapped the queen.”
He sighed, perhaps resigned that his involvement couldn’t be concealed any longer, that talking was the only way to save his sorry life. He talked for over an hour and answered my questions. When he was done, I had the information I needed to move forward. He knew more than I did, but not much more. And I still had no idea where to find the queen. But it was a start.
“Thank you, Pawl.” I stood and walked toward the door.
“Wait! What? Where are you going? You said you’d let me go! You can’t leave me here!”
“I said I wouldn’t kill you. And I won’t. But you are a threat to me and mine. Did you really think I would let you leave? To run off and warn your father? Your grandfather?”
He blabbered like a fool, begging for his mother, for the guards, for anyone to come save him. I was not a cold-blooded killer, but I could not let him go. Not yet. Not until the queen was found and my mate was out of danger.
I should simply slit his throat and be done with it. But he didn’t deserve such an easy death.
No, he deserved to suffer.
I pointed to the vid screen and his eyes flared wide. I’d gotten what I needed from him. I typed in my commands and the data was sent to the palace, specifically to Leo’s father, the head of the royal guard. “You’ll be fine until the royal guards show up. It might take some time for them to figure out where you are, but you’ll be alive. For now. But it is a centuries-old tradition on Alera to execute traitors.”
“Wait! No!” He howled as I closed the door behind me with a very soft click.
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