Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 388: Ten Dead

Chapter 388: Ten Dead

Daphne reluctantly left Leonora’s room sadly; she knew that there was no avoiding matters. She had to go and question Jonah directly. Perhaps she would make it sound more light-hearted so that Jonah would not find it too suspicious that she was so hung up over the fact that he was missing from duty.

Jonah should be standing guard outside the infirmary of the palace; Atticus had punished him for his supposed lapse in guard duty with more guard duty. Daphne could only scoff at the theatrics of it all. After she interrogated Jonah, she hoped to pick up the History of Magic so she could continue her investigations.

To her surprise, the infirmary was empty. Reaweth’s own healers weren’t present, and neither was Sirona. There was no head or tail of Jonah either.

Daphne narrowed her eyes, and she hurriedly went to Sirona’s desk. It looked depressingly empty― gone were the scribbled notes and the charred mark left on the wood. This must have been a completely new desk.

Zephyr hopped onto it and began pecking on the fresh wood.

Meanwhile, Daphne rummaged through the drawers and checked the floors and surrounding shelves; the book was missing. She cursed under her breath. Someone must have snatched the book away when she was busy. Was it Sirona? Or Atticus?

The thrown daggers were also gone, leaving behind tiny indents on the wall, the only sign that Daphne had not hallucinated the entire night. The servants had also replaced the curtains she burned.

Daphne sighed in disappointment and left the infirmary. So much for Atticus ’punishing’ Jonah. He was nowhere to be found again, and even Sirona had deserted her post.

"What am I going to do?" Daphne muttered quietly to herself, and Zephyr gave an encouraging trill in reply.

Oh wait, it sounded more like he was hungry. Zephyr must be ready for his next meal since his previous meal had ended up on Silas’s head.

"Okay, I’ll bring you to the kitchens then," Daphne said, tucking him under her arm. She could do with a midnight snack; her appetite had been poor throughout dinner as she tried to ignore Atticus’s pleading face from the corner of her eyes.

Just as she was approaching the kitchen, she heard the sound of rapid footfalls in the nearby courtyard. Daphne raised an eyebrow, at this late hour, the guards shouldn’t be running any drills― unless, of course, this was Atticus’s pathetic attempt at placating her. There were a lot of surprised sounds coming from that direction.

Daphne took a deep breath. Knowing her husband, he might have done this on purpose.

Fine. She’ll indulge Atticus’s plots then.

She made her way there, but to her astonishment, Daphne did not see Atticus. Instead, she caught sight of the back of Jonah’s blond head in the courtyard, next to Sirona’s dark hair.

They seemed to be deep in discussion, but from her position and location, Daphne could not spot what had captivated their attention.

Daphne paused. Should she take this chance to confront the both of them together? They still hadn’t spotted her.

The decision was made for her when she realized what was making the noise; a small team of knights had gathered in front of them with an orderly salute. Daphne quietly made her way behind a pillar to listen in. Eavesdropping was such a crude way of putting it, but she didn’t trust Sirona and Jonah to not put on a show for her if they saw her.

It was terrible for her to be so mistrustful of the people she cared about, but Zephyr was a warm weight in her hands, brimming with life. She wanted to keep him that way for as long as possible.

She peeled her ears to listen, wordlessly shushing Zephyr, who reluctantly kept quiet despite the lack of food in his mouth.

"Sir Jonah, there are no more bodies found," one of the knights reported.

"I see," Jonah said with a heavy sigh. "So we only have ten casualties."

"Only ten," Sirona echoed, her voice grim. "No wonder there was no one guarding the griffin in the infirmary. They’ve all been killed and their bodies shifted beforehand."

Daphne froze as she registered Sirona’s words, her heart beating so loudly she was sure they would discover her hiding behind the pillar.

The guards were dead?

So Atticus had sent guards to protect Zephyr after all!

Daphne felt the knot in her chest loosen at the realization, so thankful that he had done what he promised her. He wasn’t out to betray her or harvest Zephyr’s organs for nefarious means. Sirona and Jonah were simply making the best out of a bad situation; they weren’t in the infirmary because they had other pressing concerns.

Daphne was so relieved she nearly slumped against the pillar. It was fine. Everything was going to be fine. Her world righted itself again, and she continued to listen with a lighter heart despite the grim situation.

"Someone had to be very skilled to do this," Jonah said. "Killing so many people without alarming the rest would have been difficult enough, but it’s nigh impossible for one person to move so many bodies without alerting the rest of the castle."

"Maybe he had a team working with him," Sirona mused. "It would be foolhardy for a lone person to execute such a heist alone."

"I’ll investigate further with Atticus. We didn’t sense anyone entering the castle," Jonah replied tiredly. "Sirona, how did these men die?"

"They were struck in the neck with needles laced with a rare poison from the nettlesnake," Sirona said.

Daphne peeked to see her gesturing to something in her hand. She squinted, but she couldn’t see anything― the needle must be too thin to be spotted from a distance.

"It caused them to pass out, but since no one administered the antidote in time, they were beyond saving."

Daphne had heard enough; it was time for her to see things for herself and possibly apologize to Jonah. She stepped out and revealed her presence, causing the men to panic as they frantically saluted again.

"Your Majesty!"

"Daphne?" Sirona asked in surprise, "What are you doing here at such a late hour?"

"Zephyr got hungry again," Daphne said, embarrassed, but her eyes were on the dead bodies in front of her. "I couldn’t help but overhear what happened. Can I take a look?"

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