Page 63 of Caroline the Cruel
“Ifoundhiminthe hallway with two broken bottles of winter’s sin. He claims he saw nothing.” Angus led the two soldiers, dragging Jaden between them.
“Release him,” Caroline commanded. She’d waited ten minutes before she’d sent Angus after her husband. The guards shoved Jaden to his knees in front of her and the guests were all turned toward the commotion. “Where is he?” she hissed through gritted teeth.
Jaden shook his head, rubbing his palms against his thighs. Blood was trickling from a cut at his temple and Agnes kept jerking forward like she wanted to race to her son, but was too afraid of Caroline to do it.
Caroline surveyed the room. She would not be their spectacle tonight.
“Bring him to the war room.” She pointed at Agnes. “Take her back to her rooms and question her. Keep everyone else here until the king is found.” Then she turned and stormed out of her wedding celebration without her husband.
Jaden had never seen the queen so furious in the month he’d known her. He kept peeking down at where her fingers were splintering the wooden arms of the chair they lashed him to as she leaned over him. Did she realize she was a hair’s breadth away from losing control? He shuddered to think of what that would be like.
“Where is my husband?” she hissed.
“I don’t know, Your Majesty. My father sent me back into the Great Hall to get another bottle. When I returned, they were gone. I tried to go after them, but this happened.” Jaden lifted his head at an angle to indicate the split skin across his brow. Out of the corner of his eye Angus paced, looking ready to strike. “Obviously, I wasn’t invited wherever they were going.”
“Hollis must have told you something,” Caroline insisted.
”Ask my mother,” Jaden said, keeping his steely eye contact.
”Do you think Hollis told her anything after the stunt she pulled with Cecily?”
He unclenched his teeth. “If you don’t believe me, compel me. Otherwise, you’re wasting valuable time.”
“I believe you.” Caroline pressed the blood vessel throbbing in her forehead.
“I could help you look for him.” He lightly jerked at the ropes Angus had used to tie his arms to the chair.
“I’ve had enough assistance to last a lifetime from you Ivanslohe’s, so I’ll pass.” She sneered at him, but he only tracked her as she methodically paced around the room, the visual of a trapped wolf coming to mind. Those were the most dangerous ones.
Caroline had to give the prince credit. He held his chin high, and he hadn’t flinched. His composure was more than most men facing her wrath, and she believed he wasn’t lying. Jaden and Hollis were such a contrast. It would be hard to believe they were plotting together, even though they were family. But what did she know? Everyone here was a snake.
“I hate this place,” she screamed, rattling the window panes. Never had she wanted to be surrounded with roses-and-pink stone so badly. That’s what she would do. Once she found her husband, she’d whisk them back to Roskide, and she’d have her night with him in her own bed. Then they would rule the Joined Kingdoms together.
“Release him,” she said.
Angus moved to protest, but Jaden slammed his arms down on the arms of the chair and the weakened wood snapped. Caroline started, but he only stood, staring at her, then slid a sly look to Angus. “Next time, use more rope.”
On his way out, he stopped at the door as if thinking of what he wanted to say.
“Spit it out, prince,” Angus growled.
“If I find him, I’ll let you know.” He tapped his fingers three times, then was gone.
“Where am I?” Breicher demanded, spitting out hay as the sun rose, illuminating his surroundings.
“I know you probably don’t recognize it, what with all the blood,” Hollis said, leaning against the wagon. His other cousins stood around him with their arms crossed over their chest, all just watching, waiting.
Breicher surveyed the town square where the wagon that he’d woken up in was parked. “Avondale?” He shook his head clear, wondering what Hollis meant when he’d saidblood. And like it had summoned him, the pools of dried crimson staining the weathered marble stones of the courtyard sprang to the front of his attention. Realizing he was unbound, Breicher climbed down from the wagon. Stumbling, he whipped his head around. Blood was splattered everywhere. There wasn’t a single unmarred surface.
“What happened here?” he asked, raising a hand to his mouth as nausea rolled. He tripped on an uneven paver, but Hollis and Jamison grabbed him under the arms, urging him to his feet.
“Your wife is what happened here, Breicher,” Jamison said.
“Come, there’s more to see.” Hollis led them to a shop that had the word Delicatessen scrawled on a pane of glass. The shop wasn’t open, but when his brother stepped through the door, Jamison shoved him in after. A woman was waiting behind the counter as if she’d been expecting them.
“Where’s your husband?” Hollis asked, a little too gruffly for Breicher’s taste.
“Dead, Sir.”
