Prince of Lies [COMPLETED]

Chapter 37

Gweneth watched him throughout it all, saying nothing but she didn't have to. Her eyes said everything: Frederick, you've gone mad.

And he had.

Night after night, he stayed in his seat by the empty fireplace of his room, glaring into the abyss. Thoughts of Arabella devoured every second until sunrise—wondering where she was, what had become of her, how he could find out. But with Hendlemark patrolling the castle and the Spiderweb in the shadows, he knew his every move was being watched.

His mind had been plagued with the thoughts of finding her when daylight warmed his hands. He'd been jarred from his thoughts, blinking down at the knife in his hand and the cuts on his arms. He didn't even remember drawing his knife to make them ...

Yes, he was going mad. Something had to be done. He needed to find her—but how?

How.

He looked at all the generals who had served him well with a sudden hatred that made him want to throw them all in jail. They were wasting too much of his time, and every second without knowing what had become of Arabella was beginning to crush him with the force of a planet.

"Remarkable," Saebane murmured. "Perhaps you are the right king after all."

"You are all dismissed," Frederick said hoarsely, the cuts on his wrists itching beneath his cuffs. "We will reconvene tomorrow. You will advise Urnald of your final alliances, and this will no longer be up for discussion from this day forth."

Without waiting for further word from anyone, Frederick turned and left, and he didn't have to look behind him to know Urnald and Saebane had followed.

"Absolutely incredible," Saebane said in an awed tone, joining his side.

"My son is a born leader," Urnald said proudly at his other side, making Frederick want to thrash him.

"What are we doing next?" Frederick asked, hoping that whatever Saebane wanted with him was done so he could sneak away to the dungeons as soon as possible.

But it would be heavily guarded by Saebane's soldiers when he made it down there. They might not grant him entry—even if he was the king of this place. He needed an excuse to go inside. A good one.

"We have one meeting left for the day, then ..." Saebane said. "Then we are to discuss what is to be done with the Gentle King."

The Gentle King. Frederick was so distracted that he hadn't even spared a thought for that bastard. But he was alive, and that needed to be rectified soon. "Then by all means. Let's get this meeting over with."

Saebane wended through the halls, leading the way to the part of the castle he'd made his own. Urnald occasionally filled the silence with menial conversation, and Saebane made all the polite responses while Frederick volunteered no remarks of his own.

After a while, Frederick realized—"We're heading toward the queen's quarters? Are we visiting with Queen Dorothea."

"No," Urnald said quietly.

Frederick paused. "What has happened to her?"

"She took her own life on the day the House of the Sun went down."

None of them said anything for the rest of the way. Frederick didn't know how to feel though he should have asked what had become of her sooner.

His mother's sister. His blood aunt.

Gone.

A proud woman. A vain woman. A woman he bitterly hated.

But she didn't deserve the end she met. An end his mother also met, both sisters given over to suicide. And Frederick wondered if Urnald even cared. Or was she a means to an end like everything else in his life. And did she die realizing that?