Redblood Castle had stood abandoned for fifteen years.
Its gates were covered in vines.
Its towers were black against the moon.
Diana entered with Katherine, Thomas, and the remaining loyalists.
At the bottom of the castle was a stone door.
A wolf-shaped lock sat in its center.
Katherine approached.
The broken-crown mark on her wrist began glowing.
She touched the lock.
The door opened.
Inside were hundreds of documents.
Battle plans.
Letters.
Royal records.
Names.
Payments.
Diana moved from table to table.
Then she saw it.
A ledger.
The Conroy pack had been paid to betray Julius.
But the money hadn't come from an enemy kingdom.
It had come from inside Diana's own court.
Thomas pointed to a name.
“Look.”
Diana read it.
Her face went pale.
“Impossible.”
Katherine stepped closer.
“Mother.”
Diana looked at her.
“Your uncle.”
Katherine frowned.
“Who?”
Diana looked at her.
“Lord Adrian.”
Adrian had been Diana's younger brother.
Her most trusted adviser.
The man who had helped raise armies after Julius died.
The man who had told Diana she should abandon the throne.
The man who had convinced her that everyone around her was dead because of her.
Diana sank into a chair.
“All these years…”
She remembered his words.
Leave the crown.
Your daughter will never be safe.
The kingdom needs peace.
Every piece suddenly fit.
Katherine found another document.
“Mother.”
Diana turned.
Katherine held a letter.
The handwriting was Julius's.
Diana read it.
Julius had warned that Adrian was the architect and Marcus Conroy his weapon. He had also written that Elena knew the truth.
Diana's eyes filled with tears.
“He knew.”
Thomas nodded.
“He knew your brother planned to betray you.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he was trying to stop Adrian before accusing him.”
Then footsteps echoed through the vault.
Someone was coming.
Diana grabbed her sword.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You always were difficult to fool, sister.”
Adrian stepped into the torchlight.
He was older now.
Gray-haired.
Calm.
Still smiling.
Diana stared at him.
“You.”
Adrian sighed.
“I had hoped you would remain a healer.”
“You destroyed Julius.”
“I saved this kingdom from a ruler who would have plunged it into endless war.”
“You betrayed me.”
“No.”
Adrian's eyes moved toward Katherine.
“I betrayed your weakness.”
Katherine stepped forward.
“You ordered what they did to me.”
Adrian smiled.
“I needed your blood.”
Diana's voice became a whisper.
“You used my daughter.”
“I used the only key you had foolishly hidden from me.”
Adrian raised his hand.
The vault doors slammed shut.
“And now,” he said, “I finally have both the Queen and her heir.”
The walls of the vault began filling with silver fire—and Diana realized Adrian had not come to kill them. He had come to awaken something beneath the castle.