Chapter 36 The Fall
Adrian knelt beside Celeste's body, his hands hovering over her but not touching, like he was afraid his touch would somehow make it worse. His whole body shook. His face was gray, lips bloodless. He looked like a man watching his entire world collapse.
"Is she…" Someone started to ask from above.
"She's dead." Adrian's voice cracked on the words. He pressed both hands to his face, shoulders heaving. "She died immediately she hit the rocks. Her neck snapped on impact. I felt it through…" He stopped, unable to finish. Unable to admit he'd felt his wife's death through the bond he shared with another woman.
Lila slid down the ravine's slope, ignoring rocks that cut her hands and knees. Her vision blurred with tears. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Celeste had been alive an hour ago. Nervous but determined. Trying to prove herself. Trying to be strong.
Now she was just... gone.
"Celeste." Lila collapsed beside her sister's body. Her hands hovered, mimicking Adrian's gesture, wanting to touch but terrified. "Oh gods, Celeste, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
The gentle mare stood nearby, trembling violently. Blood flecked its coat. The horse kept trying to approach Celeste's body, whinnying softly, confused about why its rider wouldn't get up.
"What happened?" Councilor Thorne appeared at the ravine's edge, his voice sharp. "How did the Queen end up down there?"
Adrian flinched at the question. When he spoke, his voice was mechanical, like he was reading from a script to avoid feeling anything. "Her horse bolted. Something spooked it. The mare panicked and ran toward the ravine. Celeste couldn't control it. She fell."
"She was scared." Lila's voice broke. "She told me she was a poor rider. She didn't want to come. But Garrett insisted. He said." A sob cut off her words. "I told her not to go. I begged her not to go."
"This isn't your fault." Adrian's hand found hers, gripped hard enough to hurt. "None of this is your fault."
But his face said otherwise. Through the bond, Lila felt his crushing guilt. He'd planned to kill Garrett today. Had been so focused on revenge that he hadn't protected Celeste. Hadn't stayed close to her. Hadn't noticed when she'd ridden ahead. And now she was dead, and it was his fault for being so consumed with murder that he'd failed to prevent one.
"Where's Lord Garrett?" Someone asked. "He was riding beside her."
A commotion at the ravine's other side provided the answer. Guards carried Garrett between them, his body limp. Blood matted his hair. His eyes were closed.
"Found him unconscious twenty yards from here." A guard reported. "Looks like he was thrown from his horse. Hit his head on a tree."
They laid Garrett near Celeste's body. Adrian lunged forward, grabbed Garrett by his collar, shook him violently.
"Wake up!" Adrian's voice was ragged with grief and rage. "Wake up and tell me what happened! You were supposed to protect her! You said you'd keep her safe!"
"Your Majesty, please." A healer tried to intervene. "He's unconscious. He can't…"
"He's alive and she's DEAD!" Adrian's shout echoed through the ravine. "He gets to live and she's dead and I need to know WHY!"
Guards pulled Adrian away from Garrett's body. He fought them for a moment before collapsing back beside Celeste. His hand finally touched her, brushing hair back from her face with devastating gentleness.
"I'm sorry." The words came out broken. "I'm so sorry, Celeste. I failed you. From the moment we married, I failed you. And now…" His voice dissolved into harsh sobs.
Lila had never seen Adrian cry. Never seen him break down. Never seen anything but iron control. Now he wept over his dead wife's body like a man whose heart was being torn from his chest. Maybe it was guilt more than love. Maybe it was the waste of it all. But the pain was real and devastating.
"Lord Garrett tried to save her." One noble spoke up, his voice shaking. "I saw him riding after the Queen when her horse bolted. Saw him reaching for her reins, trying to grab them. But something hit his horse too. Both animals panicked."
Lila looked at Garrett's unconscious form. Even now, even broken and bleeding, something about this felt wrong. Too convenient. Too perfectly timed.
But she couldn't think about that. Couldn't focus on suspicion when her sister lay dead at her feet.
"Celeste." Lila touched her sister's hand. It was already cooling, the warmth of life fading. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry you were so unhappy. I'm sorry for everything i caused you."
Fresh sobs shook her. All their years together flooded back. Celeste braiding Lila's hair when they were children. Celeste defending her from their mother's criticism. Celeste on her wedding day, so beautiful and hopeful before everything went wrong.
Three years of bitterness and resentment. Three years of being enemies. And now there would never be reconciliation. Never be a chance to repair what had been broken. Just this, death and regret and devastating finality.
"What hit them?" Adrian finally lifted his head, his face ravaged but his voice gaining strength through sheer force of will. "Horses don't panic for no reason. Especially not trained hunting horses."
"Could have been anything." The noble suggested weakly. "A snake. A bee sting. Wild animals…"
"No." Adrian stood abruptly, moved to Celeste's mare with sudden focus. The horse shied away but he caught its bridle gently. "Something did this. Something specific. This was…"
He stopped. His hand hovered over the mare's flank. His face went from grief-stricken to absolutely murderous in seconds.
"Get me the Master of the Hunt." His voice was barely controlled violence. "Now. And don't let anyone leave this ravine. No one."
The guard who'd been standing nearby ran to obey. Adrian crouched beside the mare, his hand hovering over something on its hindquarters.
Lila forced herself to stand on shaking legs. Forced herself to move away from Celeste's body and see what Adrian had found.
A small dart protruded from the mare's flank. Barely visible, designed to embed quickly and stay hidden under thick coat. The tip glistened with something dark and oily that smelled bitter even from a distance.
Poison. Someone had shot Celeste's horse with a poisoned dart.
"This was murder." Adrian's voice was so cold it burned. "Someone deliberately killed my wife."
The words hung in the air for one frozen moment. Then chaos erupted. Nobles shouting. Guards trying to establish order. Healers abandoning Garrett's unconscious form to examine the dart more closely.
Lila stared at the tiny weapon. At the proof that her sister hadn't died in a tragic accident. Someone had planned this. Someone had come to this hunt with murder in mind.
"Who would do this?" She whispered. "Who would want Celeste dead?"
Adrian's eyes met hers across the chaos. Through the bond, she felt his answer before he could speak it. Garrett. The obvious suspect. The man who'd been pressuring Celeste to leave. The man who benefited from her death, no longer tied to an unhappy queen, free to claim his rewards and disappear.
But Garrett lay unconscious, conveniently unable to defend himself or explain what he'd seen.
Through her grief and shock, Lila's mind began working again. Too convenient. All of this was too convenient. Garrett unconscious at exactly the right moment. Positioned as the hero who tried to save Celeste but failed. Unable to be questioned or blamed.
As healers prepared to move Celeste's body, wrapping her in soft blankets with heartbreaking care, Lila noticed something in the underbrush. A second dart, identical to the first, lying discarded in dead leaves.
She picked it up with trembling hands, hiding it in her sleeve before anyone could see. Evidence. Proof that this was planned.
But proof of what? And by whom?
She looked back at her sister's covered body. At Adrian standing over Celeste with his fists clenched and his face carved from grief and rage. At Garrett's unconscious form being carried away by guards.
Someone had murdered Celeste. Had taken her sister's life and left Lila with nothing but regrets and unanswered questions.
And whoever had done this was still here. Still among them. Still pretending to be shocked and grieving while hiding their guilt.
Lila pressed the hidden dart against her wrist, feeling its sharp point through fabric. She would find them. Would hunt them down with every resource at her disposal. Would make them pay for taking her sister.
For taking the only family she had left.