“Your Highness, with all due respect, I think we should talk this over with the King first,” I said.

But it was already too late. Elliot had opened the doors, and Kennet entered the room with his usual swagger and walked over to join the Queen.

“What’s all this?” Kennet asked, surveying Kasper’s and my grave expressions.

“If you’re going to accuse a man of something, you must be prepared to let him defend himself.” Mina looked at me when she spoke, and her grey eyes were hard as stone.

“Accuse me of what?” Kennet appeared unnerved for a moment—his smile faltering and his eyes darting over to me—but he quickly hid it under his usual arrogance.

I met his gaze and kept my voice even. “I think you were behind everything that happened in Storvatten. You pulled all the strings to frame your brother and get his crown.”

Kennet laughed, and I wasn’t sure what exactly I’d expected his reaction to be, but he honestly didn’t seem upset. His laugh wasn’t one of nerves but his usual carefree booming one, like he genuinely found this whole scenario amusing.

“Bryn, you have made a terrible mistake.” He scratched his temple and smiled sadly at me. “I didn’t pull any strings.”

“You’re say you’re not responsible for what happened in Storvatten?” Mina asked Kennet, but kept her eyes on me.

Kennet shook his head. “No, of course not.”

“Now we find ourselves in a terrible predicament,” Mina said. “You, Bryn Aven and Kasper Abbot, stand before me accusing an allied Prince of heinous crimes without any evidence to back it up.”

“We do—” I began, but the Queen silenced me.

“He denies them all, and as a Prince, I will believe him over the unfounded word of two lowly guards,” Mina went on, and I clenched my jaw to keep from yelling at her. “But had I believed you, your claims could have easily led to a war with a peaceful friend.”

I lowered my eyes and swallowed hard.

“Ultimately, that would’ve led to the deaths of many innocent people—both Kanin and Skojare,” Mina said. “Do you know what that means, Bryn? You attempted to cause the deaths of your own people and to hurt the King.”

“That’s not at all what I meant,” I insisted desperately. “I was trying to defend the King and the kingdom.”

“It’s too late.” Mina shook her head and attempted to affect a look of sadness, but it fell flat given her cold expression. “The damage is already done. And so you must be punished.”

“Punished?” I shook my head, not understanding.

“Yes, both of you, actually.” She looked between Kasper and me. “You both attempted to commit treason.”

“Treason?” I shouted.

“My Queen, there has been a terrible misunderstanding,” Kasper said, hurrying to defend himself.

“Elliot, arrest these two and take them to the dungeon until they can stand trial,” Queen Mina commanded.

“This wasn’t Kasper’s idea. It’s not his fault,” I tried to argue for him.

“Elliot, now!” Mina raised her voice, and he hurried to comply.

Members of the Högdragen had a pair of iron shackles on the back of their belts in case they needed to restrain someone, and Elliot pulled them out now. He walked over to his friend, giving Kasper an apologetic look before locking the cuff around his wrist.

Then Elliot moved on to me, meaning to lock the other cuff around my wrist, but I pulled away.

“Your Highness, please, you have to listen to me,” I persisted.

“I am the Queen.” Mina sneered. “How dare you tell me what I have to do.”

It was then that I realized my pleas were falling on deaf ears. There was no point in fighting, and I let Elliot arrest me.

FORTY-TWO

castigate

The iron shackle around my wrist felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. Kasper and I walked with our heads down, saying nothing because there was nothing to say. Another guard had joined Elliot, in case we decided to put up a fight, and the four of us walked in silence through the cold corridors of the palace.

I heard hushed whispers as we walked by, but I never looked up to see who was speaking. As defeated as I felt, my mind raced to figure out how to get out of the situation. My father might be able to leverage his position as the Chancellor to get us free, and while I normally hated nepotism, I didn’t want Kasper to spend years in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed.

Both of us would most certainly lose our careers, but if we were lucky we might not have to forfeit our lives. There was a chance King Evert might not act as harshly as his wife, so hopefully we wouldn’t end up in prison for life or exiled.

The highest punishment for treason was execution, but I had to believe it wouldn’t come to that.

When we reached the cells located in the dungeon below the palace, we weren’t the only ones in there. An old man with a long graying beard had gotten up from his cot to watch our arrival, holding on to the bars and pressing his emaciated, dirty face against them.

This was a long-term prison, which was why it only housed a solitary inmate. There was a jail behind the Högdragen dorms where everyday criminals were kept: thieves and tax evaders, drunks who needed to cool off, even the rare murderer.

The dungeon was for crimes against the kingdom.

The old man in the cell was unrecognizable from who he’d been when he was thrown in the dungeon over three decades ago, but I knew immediately that it was Samuel Peerson. In our textbooks, I’d seen pictures of him from when he’d been arrested in the 1980s. He’d been a young man then, protesting the King’s high taxation.