Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

“Who is dead?” a voice bellowed across the hall. Instantly, everyone fell silent. It was Queen Gianne, rising from her throne, her eyes livid.

The waitress turned, trembling. “There is a body in the stockroom, Your Highness. I was bringing out more glasses and… I found him!” she shrieked, sinking to her knees in front of her queen.

“Everyone, stay where you are! Anyone caught running for the exits will be killed on sight,” the queen roared, clearly infuriated by the interruption to her party. “Guards, follow this waitress! Search the area for the killer. Nobody leaves until this vulgar beast is found!”

To the chorus of marching boots, the guards swarmed into the hallway we had come from, the doors swinging shut behind them, leaving us with the uncertainty of their return. I wanted to grasp Navan’s hand, but I stayed put, knowing that any sort of affection would only get us into even more trouble. It was a waiting game, now.

In the distance, I saw Kalvin and the others get up out of their seats, deliberately keeping their gazes away from where Navan and I were standing. The looks on their faces didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. There was terror written on every single one.

“What is the penalty for a crime like this?” I whispered to Navan.

“A very brutal, very painful, very slow death,” he replied, his voice wavering slightly.

I froze, unable to speak. My mind was full of a thousand terrible executions. For myself, I knew it would be over with far faster than it would for the coldbloods, with their superior strength, but I wasn’t ready to die. Nor was I ready to watch Navan die. There had to be a way out of this. They couldn’t know it was us.

Ten torturous minutes later, the guards returned. One of them ran up to the queen, bending his knee as he neared her.

“Well, what have you found?” Queen Gianne demanded.

“Jora Razul, Your Highness,” the guard replied.

Queen Gianne’s cheeks flushed red with fury. “One of my most loyal subjects. A faithful friend to the one true crown!” she cried. “How did he die?”

“Knife wound through the neck, Your Highness,” the guard explained. “We didn’t find the murder weapon.”

Immediately, Queen Gianne’s gaze rested upon Navan, before floating down to me. Scanning the crowd, she sought out the faces of Kalvin and the others, too, her chest heaving with rage. “Fetch Navan and his pet to me, and those rebels too!” she roared, her voice shaking the crystal glasses.

The guards made a beeline for us, jabbing the tips of the bristling spears between our shoulder blades, the electric buzz driving us toward the queen. I felt like a cow on its way to the slaughterhouse, being cattle-prodded all the way. As we reached Queen Gianne, the guards shoved us downward, making us sink to our knees in front of her.

“How is it that there have been no murders like this committed since I have been queen—but, the moment you bring rebels across the threshold of my queendom, a loyalist winds up dead in a palace stockroom?” she asked, her words dripping venom, her gaze fixed on Navan’s face.

“I don’t know, Your Highness,” he replied quietly, keeping his head down.

“You think it’s a coincidence, Idrax?” she spat, her silver eyes burning with furious fire.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, Your Highness,” he repeated.

“It all seems a little suspicious to me,” she hissed, dipping low to his face. She snatched his chin up to make him look at her. “This was you, wasn’t it? This was your plan all along. You thought you could frighten me by ruining my celebration, and picking off those closest to me—is that it? Did my sister put you up to this?” I could feel the anger pouring off her, sending terror through my veins.

“No, Your Highness,” Navan insisted. “I had nothing to do with this. I don’t know how that coldblood died.”

“You got one of your little cronies to stab him, is that right? You want me to think my queendom isn’t safe, yes?” she snarled. “Well, it won’t work, Idrax! I will never be afraid. My queendom is solid, and shall forever stand, no matter how many rebels flock to my door, trying to take me down!” Her hand shot out and struck Navan hard across the face. His head jerked backward, the blow echoing across the silent hall.

Once again, it took everything I had to keep still, to stop myself from checking he was okay. A handprint was beginning to blossom against the ashen gray of his skin.

Queen Gianne was running scared; I could see it on her face. There was not only anger flickering across her features, but panic too. All of those things she had said were things she feared. It seemed the Queen was having a crisis of confidence, all smothered in a front of bravado. To me, it was crystal clear that she didn’t believe her queendom or her crown were safe. She was downright paranoid.

Slyly glancing to his side, Navan flashed me an apologetic look that made my pulse quicken in despair. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I realized he was going to own up to it, to save us all.

“Your Highness, I—” Navan began.

“It was me,” a low voice interrupted, before Navan could say another word.

I turned sharply to see Kalvin kneeling at the end of the lineup, his gaze lifted to meet the queen’s. “I did it, Your Highness. I killed Jora Razul,” he said hoarsely, keeping his eyes on her.

Forgetting Navan, the queen whirled around and stormed toward him, bending low to his face. “Did my sister put you up to this?”

He shook his head. “Forgive me, Queen Gianne—the one, true queen of Vysanthe. Jora and I got into a fight about an old disagreement. I had stolen his girl, a long time ago, but he never forgave me,” he explained, thinking fast. “I’d been away so long, I thought he’d have forgotten all about it, but he sprang on me in the hallway, and I fought back in self-defense. I didn’t mean to kill him, Your Highness. He took me by surprise, and I retaliated. It was a stupid argument about a petty squabble, and it ended in tragedy—it was just the two of us, out there in the hallway, and I hid him because I was ashamed of what I’d done.”

I stared in open-mouthed disbelief, both at Kalvin’s swift-thinking mind, and at the realization that he was sacrificing himself for the sake of us. No, not us—Orion’s cause. All of this was for the rebel cause. If nobody took the rap for Jora Razul’s murder, then the mission stopped here. Still, I could hardly fathom how someone could believe so wholly in a cause that they would be willing to die for it. I had never been Kalvin’s biggest fan, but I couldn’t help but feel a deep, newfound respect for him. There was an incredible sense of duty in his character, even if it was tragically misdirected.

A sense of duty that I prayed had just saved all of our lives.

Queen Gianne seemed to consider Kalvin’s words, conflict moving across her face in a grim shadow. With my eyes upon her, I prayed the queen would be merciful.

“This is the truth?” she asked, her features softening.

Kalvin nodded. “This is the absolute truth, Your Highness.”