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Hector felt the vigor course through him. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a laugh. “Okay, I will,” he said, drawing more discomforted glances. The sudden energy made every muscle in his body anxious. ‘How long does this boost last?’

‘Should last about half an hour before I need to renew it. So, I won’t be long.’

He looked through the fence another time and saw numerous guards patrolling the grounds. ‘Keep me updated.’

‘Of course.’

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The guards found the body stuffed into a storage locker. They said it was a young man named Mark Stockton. She remembered him. He was a serving boy, no more than seventeen. He often brought her meals. She doubted that was coincidence.

Helen decided to cancel the rest of her silent meetings. Time was no longer her ally, she realized. And besides, Mehlsanz refused to leave her side now, apparently afraid to chance upon the murderer without Helen to protect her.

She found her husband just outside their bedchamber. She dismissed the attendant he was talking to and pushed him into the room, shutting the door behind her. “I need to know something, and I need to know it now,” she said.

The King straightened and met her gaze. “Yes?”

“Were you the one who tried to have me killed?”

His expression turned over on itself. He blinked and opened his mouth but hesitated. After a moment, his eyes narrowed. “Is that why you have been so distant these past few days? You suspect I had something to do with it?”

“Yes.”

He lowered his brow and breathed a short laugh. “I always did like your candor.”

“I do not see what is amusing,” she said. “Goddess, William, if you had that boy killed because of some quiet grudge against me, then I--”