The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,38

ladies-in-waiting for yourself?"

I gaped around the room, the others drifting closer. Thao wedged himself in at my back, one hand cupped around my side possessively, his chin resting over my shoulder.

"I'm not sure of anything at this point," I said softly.

"Even if they have the right political ties, you may be putting them in danger by adding them to your court," Cosmo said carefully.

Ice trickled through my veins, my heart squeezing at the thought of tangling young Nora into the mess of my path to securing the throne.

"There will be no keeping a secret about what took place today," Thao said. "You can be honest regarding the danger and allow them to make their own choice."

My fingers were picking absently at the embroidery on my new dress, and Wendell's hands tangled with mine, squeezing gently. "Speak with your grandmother on it," he said.

I released a breath I hadn't even realized I'd trapped in my chest and nodded. Grandmother would be both honest and cunning. Growing up, I'd been forced to sit through her lectures or to perform perfectly at a tea for her to interrogate me. Now I went to her every day to speak. She'd been as unprepared for the revelations regarding Kimmery as I was, but she had the lifetime of interest in our Kingdom that my mother seemed to lack.

"I want to go down and listen to them question the maid," I said, twisting and finding Cresswell back against the wall. He was awkwardly dressed in his pants with only his uniform jacket on, half-buttoned to reveal appealing planes of his chest, but he stood as if he were stationed, and I frowned, reaching out for him.

He stepped forward slowly, glancing at the others as if they might object. No one so much as blinked.

"I can take you down myself. Leave Humphries and Brummer here to watch the suite," Cress said.

"I'll come too," Thao said. "I sat in as our palace guards questioned an assassination attempt on my father. Has it never happened here before?"

"Not that I've known of," I admitted. "But I think we all know that plenty has been hidden from the queen's line in the past."

The Hunger prickled and snapped as we traveled down to the dungeons. This was a part of the castle I had never had cause to visit before. I'd been fooled as I'd grown up, believing my family was beloved by our kingdom, that we were actually serving our people. I'd known there was a dungeon, but I'd never given thought to who might be found within.

The space was vast, an entire structure of its own beneath the shining surface of the castle, a dark root system with staircases that seemed to sink indefinitely. We circled down, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a long hall of cells.

"Who is kept in those?" I whispered to Cresswell, seeing a glimpse of figures pacing behind bars, arms drooping out of the cage.

He shook his head. "I've spent my time at your side. Brummer or Piper might know."

"I want a full record of who is kept here and their crimes," I said, an uneasy feeling swirling in the pit of my stomach. How could there be so many people kept in the dungeon when I'd never heard of any crime against the crown?

Aric, Daniel, and the guards were another floor down. There were no windows this low, and the air was tangy and metallic. The maid sobbed loudly in the room, words unintelligible, and I paused at the threshold, suddenly wishing I'd waited to hear from my Chosen about the answers they gathered. The room was long and dark, candles flickering in sconces along the wall cast threatening shadows from the strange instruments littered about.

This was a torture chamber.

Daniel was away from the others, head down and feet pacing back and forth, arms crossed over his chest. He paused suddenly and looked up, finding me immediately, a deep frown creasing the corners of his lips.

"Go back," he mouthed to me.

I swallowed hard at the sudden scream of the woman until it shattered into breathless sobs, my steps stumbling back, running into Thao and Cresswell's shoulders.

"Stop!" I shouted, still unaware of what was happening.

The circle of guards stumbled back, Aric amongst them, his eyes unseeing for a moment before finally landing on me.

"Come here, princess," he said gently.

I wanted to take Daniel's advice and run. Cress and Thao would certainly let me, but then Aric tilted his chin up, confidence