“I haven’t ruled out any possibilities yet.” I chose my words carefully.

“You don’t trust me?” Kennet smirked a little and stood up, walking toward me.

“I think it would be unwise to trust anybody in Storvatten right now.”

“That is probably very true.” He stopped mere inches away, looking down at me. “Why did you come to my room, Bryn?”

“I want to find out the truth about what is going on here.”

“But you don’t trust me.”

“Maybe I can tell when you’re lying,” I countered.

“Oh yeah?” Kennet raised an eyebrow. “Am I lying when I say I want to kiss you right now?”

I took half a step back, surprised by his frank declaration, and it took me a moment to figure out how to counter him. “Prince, I value your friendship, but that is all.”

He stepped closer, smiling down at me. “You would deny your Prince a simple kiss?”

I looked up at him sharply. “You would order me to?”

“No, of course not,” Kennet corrected himself quickly. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How do I know that?” I asked as I studied his face. “I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you.”

For once, he didn’t have a smart comeback. The weariness I’d seen in him earlier was creeping back in, and I felt a small pang of sympathy.

“Today has been a very long day, and the days ahead are only going to be longer,” Kennet said, his voice a low, resigned rumble. “And as much as I’d usually love to play these games with you, I don’t have it in me today.”

“I don’t want to play any games,” I told him. “I just need you to be honest with me.”

He let out a deep breath. “I will answer any questions you ask me as honestly as I can.”

“Did you try to kidnap or hurt the Queen?”

He pulled his head back in surprise. “No. Of course not.”

“Do you know who did?”

“It’s my understanding that it was that Konstantin Black fellow.”

“Do you know him?”

“Konstantin?” Kennet shook his head. “No. I never met him.”

I narrowed my eyes, appraising him. “You’re not lying?”

“No, I swear,” he insisted, and for once I actually believed him. “I never met him. I never even heard of him until you told us about him.”

“Did your brother have anything to do with the Queen’s kidnapping?” I asked.

Kennet opened his mouth but seemed to think better of it. His gills flared with a deep breath, and finally he said, “I think my brother is involved in a great number of things that I know nothing about. He is a good man, and he tries to be a fair King, but he’s been in over his head since the day he was crowned. No matter what he has done, I’m certain that he never meant to hurt anybody.”

“What about you?” I asked.

“What about me?” A smile began to play on his lips.

“Are you a good man?”

“No, I would say I’m not a very good man,” Kennet admitted. “But I would never do anything to hurt my brother. Despite our occasional differences, I love Mikko, and I won’t let anything bad happen to him.”

“You let him go to jail,” I reminded him, and he flinched.

“Mikko is in jail,” he contended. “But I’m not the one who arrested him, and there will be a trial. He will have the chance to clear his name, and I’ll stand by him.

“Besides, there are worse things than jail,” Kennet added.

“Did you hire Cyrano to kill you brother?” I asked.

Kennet rolled his eyes. “I already told you I’d never do anything to hurt Mikko. Haven’t I answered enough of these questions?” He stepped backward and sat on the bed.

“I have one more question,” I answered. “Do you know why anyone would want me dead?”

“What?” Kennet shook his head, appearing appalled by the idea. “No. Of course not. Who wants you dead?”

“No one. Never mind.” I tried to brush it off, since that was easier than explaining that Konstantin Black had visited me in a dream to tell me that Viktor Dålig had put a hit out on me.

Kennet smirked. “I can’t imagine a single reason anyone wouldn’t want you around. Other than your incessant questions, of course.”

THIRTY

desperation

The darkness of the water outside my window made it impossible to see if the sun had come up yet. I lay in bed not sleeping, the way I had spent most of the night not sleeping, waiting for my alarm to go off and tell me it was morning and I could get up and actually accomplish something.

Not that I was sure anything could be accomplished. Kasper and I had spent a large portion of yesterday trying to get Bayle to hand over papers to us, but he insisted that they needed to be locked up for safety before King Mikko’s trial.

Bayle refused to tell us much of anything, citing confidentiality. We tried to push it, but since we didn’t have much standing here, we didn’t get anywhere. When we tried to talk to Mikko, his barrister shut us down.

There wasn’t much more we could do for him, so Kasper suggested we go back to working on the mission we came here for in the first place—creating recommendations to help the palace guard function better. And that’s what we did, staying up late into the night to write a report about the changes we thought the guards could make so the royal family would be safer.