Sienna sat up straighter, her back stiff. "Why do you say that? What would she do?"
The soft edge to Friedrich's expression hardened as he leaned over the desk on the knuckles of both fists. When he answered, he leveled his gaze on Nikolai. "She is cruel to those who betray her."
"What has she done?" asked Nikolai.
"That is what I wanted to tell you before Grant came in." He heaved a sigh. "When Marius fled with his peasant bride, Princess Vilhelmina was still within the grounds of the Glass Tower."
"Yes, I know." Nikolai leaned forward. "When I abandoned my post to follow Marius, she was preparing to return to her home Briar Rose in Arkadia. Did she not return?"
"Oh, she most certainly returned. But words were exchanged between the princess and the queen before she departed. The queen discovered that it was the princess who had encouraged Marius to follow his heart rather than go through with their arranged marriage."
"Bloody hell," murmured Nikolai.
"And with the foretelling," added Sienna, "the queen would be furious at losing her chance of Mina marrying Marius and having his son."
"Precisely."
Sienna sat on the edge of her cushion. "But what happened to Mina?" she asked in desperation. "When the princess was in our care in my cottage, she and I became friends. Please tell me," she pleaded urgently. "The queen didn't hurt her, did she?"
Friedrich's relaxed demeanor hardened, his dark blue eyes taking on a glacial hue. "She was condemned to a bloodless sleep."
"What?" asked Nikolai in shock, his expression hardening.
"What is that?" asked Sienna. "What is a bloodless sleep?"
Friedrich exchanged a look with Nikolai, then the latter turned to Sienna to explain. "The bloodless sleep is an old practice. A cruel one. It is used on vampire criminals. Of the worst kind."
"But what crime has the princess committed?" asked Sienna in disbelief.
"Treason," replied Friedrich. "The queen determined her actions were an outright break with her betrothal and a betrayal of the crown. Queen Morgrid had her own royal Legionnaires escort the princess back to Briar Rose. There, under orders, they murdered her lady-in-waiting right before her eyes."
Sienna gasped and whispered the woman's name. "Kathleen. She was her host. And her friend," added Sienna. "Mina drank only from her."
"I know," said Friedrich.
"What did they do to Mina? This bloodless sleep?"
Friedrich tapped his index finger on the desk, his signet ring winking in the morning light, before telling the rest in one long breath. "The Royal Legionnaires locked Mina in her tower and starved her until she collapsed. Under the queen's orders, they now feed her one drop of blood per week. Enough to keep her alive, but also trapped in the darkness of a hungry sleep."
"Torture," bit out Nikolai. "Brutal torture."
"Yes," agreed Friedrich. "So keep ahead of the queen, my friend. She is certainly bringing back the old ways, trying to reinstate the tyranny she once ruled. Whether she truly is chasing this dream Sienna told us, she is definitely taking steps to control with dark forces."
"Indeed." His sharp gaze landed on her. "Do you see now why we must flee to Cutters Cove?"
"No, I don't."
"It's too risky to take you to Dale's Peak, Sienna." He said her name with bite and steel. And finality.
She gave him a sad sort of smile, tilting her head submissively. Yet her words were not the admission of surrender he longed to hear. "Nikolai, we need to finish what we started. At the very least, we need to meet our contact at Dale's Peak where recruits are likely to be large in number." She placed a hand atop his on his lap. "We must try for the sake of the Black Lily."
He jolted to a stand, biting back a reply, then returned to the window, hands at his back.
"Don't you understand?" she implored. "Revolutions aren't won without danger. And death. We are all risking our lives. Why shouldn't I?"
He spun. "Because I-" Snapping his mouth shut and clenching his jaw, he whirled back to face the window. Tension rippled off his stone-like frame.
Friedrich rounded his desk and ambled toward the door. "I'll leave you two to decide." He stopped with his hand on the knob. "I don't want to interfere in your mission, but she is right, Nikolai. War is coming. And we need good men on our side."
…
Sienna could feel Nikolai's anger like a biting chill in the air. He made no move from the window when the duke shut the door behind him. His stance and posture blocked her out, as cold as the snowy landscape beyond. She couldn't stand to see him suffer, especially when it was because of her.