The Betrothed (The Betrothed #1)(44)

Silas stepped closer, and my breath temporarily departed from my lungs. It took me a moment to miss it. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Valentina,” I confessed, trying to focus on why I’d come in the first place. “She came to visit me tonight, and she seemed fine at first, but we were talking about her family and the king, and she suddenly broke down and started telling me things that didn’t make sense.” I took a deep breath. I couldn’t break Valentina’s confidence, so I had to be careful how I phrased everything.

“I was wondering if you knew anything about her parents. She kept saying ‘they always come’ and then whoever these people were took her parents. Do you have any idea what she means?”

At that he looked at the ground. “I’m afraid I do. Valentina’s parents were”—he paused, looking for the right word—“opposed to certain things happening in Isolte. They became a little too vocal about it, and they caught the attention of the Darkest Knights.”

The very words gave me prickles up and down my arms.

“Who are the Darkest Knights?”

“We don’t know. Some say they are nobles, others say they are gypsies. Some are convinced they’re members of the royal guard, but no one can be sure. Their identities have been carefully protected, which is a necessity, because when they come, their destruction is absolute. It’s inspired rage of the most acute nature in my homeland. I knew a man who lost everything in a fire supposedly started by them, and he went out to take revenge against someone he believed was a Darkest Knight. Killed an entire family.”

Silas paused, shaking his head. “He was wrong. Everyone knew Lord Klume to be a good man, but his rank and closeness to the king made some believe otherwise. To keep the peace, King Quinten had Lord Klume’s murderer killed so no one would be tempted to take the law into their own hands again. But many people live in fear that if they say or do the wrong thing, these men will come for them. And as no one can be sure of their identities, it’s hard to know who you can trust.”

“So Valentina’s parents trusted the wrong people?”

Silas shrugged. “Possibly. Either way, when the queen’s parents disappeared, it put most people in their place.”

“Disappeared? Are they still missing?”

“No.” Silas looked into the distance as if he could still see it all. “Their bodies were left in front of the castle gate. Everyone saw them. I saw them. It was very . . . deliberate. And Valentina . . . when she made her way to their bodies, she made a sound that I’ve never heard come out of a human before. I still can’t imagine her grief.”

I shook my head. “No wonder you all chose to leave.”

“My parents just wanted to give us a chance,” he said simply. “Peace has felt like an unattainable dream for us most of our lives.”

I appreciated his hope, and I was pleased that living in Coroa would allow him a chance at a happy life. But my thoughts were still with Valentina; she didn’t have the option to stay. I placed my hand over my heart, thinking of her words. “Do you think the queen is in danger?”

Silas was quick to answer. “No. The king needs her. She’s the only path he has to another heir. You’ve seen Prince Hadrian. Every day that he still lives feels miraculous. Yes, he’s set to marry this winter, but . . .”

I considered this. “I don’t know. She seemed so . . . I don’t even have the proper words to describe it. Desperate and scared and anxious and tired. All of that at once and then some.”

Silas reached out, touching my arm. “She’s probably one of the loneliest people I know. The women at court won’t associate with her, there isn’t a man in his right mind who would so much as look at her, and now her parents are gone. I’m sure she’s feeling a lot of things. I don’t much care for her as a queen, but I’m glad she at least had you to talk to.”

All I could think about was the warmth in his touch, the tenderness in his voice. It was getting harder and harder to remember I was here for Valentina.

“I would always be willing to listen to anyone in need of a friend.”

“I know,” he said softly. “It’s something that makes you unique. I have a sense that even those you weren’t sure you could trust could always trust you regardless.”

I nodded. “Which is why I have to go now. I’ve said more than Valentina would have wanted me to. I’m hoping you will do me the kindness of keeping her secrets.”

“I would do anything you ask.”

I bit my lip, choosing my words carefully. “And there are others counting on me. . . . I’m afraid I’d let them all down if I stay much longer.”

His hand was still on my arm. “I wish you would all the same.”

Tears were prickling at the corners of my eyes, and a hard heaviness settled in my throat. “I don’t understand what this feeling is, why it is I can’t bring myself to stay away from you . . . but I have to. There’s so much riding on me marrying Jameson, not just for me, but for you, too. Jameson could choose to send you and your family back to Isolte if you offend him, and if things are as bad as you say, I don’t want to put your lives in danger. Scarlet means too much to me.”

“Just Scarlet?” he asked softly.

I paused. “No. You. You mean too much to me.”