The crowds thinned out the higher we climber in the castle, and yet I knew we were still a long way from the top when Grenlow paused beside a door and opened it. He waved us in and then closed the door behind us, moving to sit himself at the large, circular table that was the only source of furniture in the room. I sat beside him, and Harbringer moved to the window, looking down at what section of the grounds were visible below him, and out to the closest town, which was not too far from the north-western section of the castle wall. Gretal hovered by the door, still looking uncertain.
“Have a seat,” I told her, trying to make my voice as soft and calm as I could, as if she were some wild animal, about to bolt at the slightest disruption.
“I’m going to bring out Nareon.” I said, once Gretal had taken a seat, and Grenlow began to nod vigorously, as if this were a great idea, but Harbringer moved away from the window and leaned against the back of one of the chairs, frowning down at me.
“You shouldn’t bring him into this world. I suspect it only makes him stronger.”
“We need him right now. He has answers, and you know it. Besides, he hasn’t been dead for very long, and whatever it is he’s up to, I doubt he’s going to accomplish it in a few days.”
His frown deepened, and I turned back to Gretal, who once again housed a shell-shocked look.
“When Nareon died, it was technically my doing. He manipulated my power, and used it to kill himself.”
“Why?” she squeaked, wide blue eyes jerking from my face, to Harbringer’s, skipping straight over Grenlow.
“When a synfee is killed by a weaker being, a piece of themselves is essentially saved. It latches onto the weaker person, but is enslaved to that person.”
“How would they have died, if they were stronger in the first place?”
“It doesn’t happen often,” Grenlow answered, though Gretal still didn’t look at him, “in fact it almost never happens.”
“So that’s why you are now Queen?” Gretal asked me, “You rule by proxy of the King living on in some way through you?”
“He is no longer King.” Both Harbringer and Grenlow said at the same time.
“Do you remember what I said before?” I asked her, ignoring them both, “about Nareon always having a grand plan that none of us are aware of, until it is too late, or he chooses to enlighten us?”
She nodded, and I could see a flicker of understanding pass across her face.
“Whatever the most obvious reason is, it’s probably wrong. Whatever reason I can give you for this happening, it will be wrong.”
To be continued…
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Hereditary (Beatrice Harrow Series) Page 26