and Lord Drider a visit.”
“The men from the party?” Reid asked, recalling the people she’d met when she went undercover with Gordon.
“Yes. And, Ackley, I need your Knights. I want to know what’s being said at the local taverns and what the general feel for the soldiers stationed outside the city is.”
“That may be problematic since my Knights are supposed to be dead,” Ackley drawled. He quickly explained how Anna had sent them in to kidnap Reid, hoping he’d mistakenly assume the king’s men had taken her so he’d assassinate them.
“That sounds like something you’d do.” Gordon rubbed a hand over his face. “Did you?”
“Anna’s plan would have worked if she’d known Dexter any better. He stopped me.”
Gordon eyed Dexter. “I don’t understand Anna’s motives.”
Idina and Leigh came into the room, both clean and smelling like flowers.
Gordon leaned against the doorframe. “I understand Anna hates our family for taking her parents’ land, but her actions seem a bit extreme. She’s the leader of the Knights. Why try to eliminate them?”
Leigh perched on the sofa, her back straight. “Anna has more than just her land to be upset about.” She laced her fingers together.
“You know my mother?” Reid asked. She hated referring to Anna as her mother. It felt wrong.
“Yes.”
“Can you tell us about her?” Dexter asked. “It may help us understand her better.”
“And then we’ll know how to stop her.” A wicked smile spread across Ackley’s face.
Leigh pushed her hair behind her ears, then clasped her hands in her lap. “I only know bits and pieces,” she said. “But I do know she was madly in love with Hudson.”
Reid raised her eyebrows, surprised by the admission.
“Hudson told me he met Anna at a royal function where he’d been impressed by her beauty.” She peered over at Reid. “After a brief correspondence, he went to visit her under the guise of a hunting trip. Duke Axian took Hudson hunting, and that’s when the tragic accident happened.” Leigh focused on her hands, shaking her head. “Hudson liked doing a lot of things, so he never perfected any one thing. Hunting was no exception. According to him, he’d been too busy talking and thinking about Anna. When he went to shoot the deer, he accidentally shot Duke Axian instead. It was at close range, and the arrow shattered the duke’s knee.”
Reid had often wondered why her grandfather wasn’t able to walk.
“Hudson helped the duke home, then fetched a healer. While the duke was being tended to, Hudson and Anna snuck out of the manor.” Leigh twisted her hands. “Hudson told me they were intimate.”
“I’m assuming this is before Anna married my father?” Reid asked.
“Yes. This took place a couple of months before they married.”
“What happened next?” Idina asked, enraptured by the story.
“Anna wanted to marry him. However, he revealed his father had entered into marriage negotiations on his behalf.”
“With whom?” Reid asked.
Leigh took a deep breath before revealing, “A princess from Melenia.”
Reid’s stomach twisted, and she felt like she was going to be ill. Since Hudson was originally supposed to marry someone from Melenia, it couldn’t be a mere coincidence Melenia was in Marsden now.
“Hudson said his father wanted to unite the two kingdoms. After he left Anna and returned home, I believe Anna followed him. She dressed as a man in order to spy on him. This is how she discovered he wasn’t as attached to her as she thought.” Leigh shook her head. “I was so wrapped up in my relationship with Henrick that I never knew. Not until it was too late.”
“Never knew what?” Ackley asked.
“That Hudson wanted me. Probably because I was the one woman he couldn’t have since I was in love with his twin brother.”
No one spoke for a moment as they all processed what Leigh had revealed.
Gordon cleared his throat. “Wasn’t Henrick the king’s heir?”
Leigh nodded.
“So why did Grandfather want Hudson to marry a Melenia princess instead of Henrick?” he asked.
“Broc always had a soft spot for romance. He knew Henrick and I were in love, so he gave us his blessing to marry. When Melenia’s king wrote seeking an alliance, Broc agreed and offered Hudson.”
“How did Father feel about the union?” Idina asked.
“Hudson was upset. He didn’t understand why Henrick was allowed to choose who he married when he couldn’t. Shortly thereafter, the king met with an untimely death. Hudson was declared the heir. Henrick believed Hudson forced those two men to change Broc’s successor on his deathbed.” Her eyes filled with tears as she