Andrei

Crouching down, I lift the sheet off of Dago's body, I release my magic into the air, feeling for any spells or enchantments that have been cast in this area or on Dago himself recently but don't find any.

Picking up the dagger that had been left in Dago's chest I study it and have to fight the growl from escaping my chest.

I gave this dagger to Cherish a few days after we came back here. She never carried it on her, it was always under her pillow when she slept. She didn't do anything else with it, she just kept it close.

A part of me wonders if she's worried something will happen and she's essentially been using the dagger as a security blanket.

"Find anything?" Elazer asks from behind me.

I stand up dagger in hand. "Maybe. I'll be back. I need to check something real quick."

"Alright. Make it quick."

"You got it."

Keeping the dagger hidden from anyone who might be watching or wandering in the hallways, I stick it in my back pocket. I quickly make my way to Cherish's room. When I get there I knock once and go inside.

She's sitting on the bed with her head in her hands, her long hair draped over her like a curtain. Kade and Xander are playing a card game at the small table in the corner by the window, though I don't think they're paying much attention to the game since both their gazes flick to Cherish too often for them to really be focusing on the cards.

I shut the door and they all look at me. Kade and Xander stand.

"What is it?" Kade asks.

"Cherish," I say, without looking at the guys, keeping my focus completely on the female in front of me. "Where's the dagger I gave you?"

Her brow furrows and she pouts a little. "It's in here." She turns and reaches to move her pillow. Tossing it aside, she frowns when she sees that there's nothing underneath. "But, it was there this morning?" She brings her thumb to her mouth as she turns back to me. "I don't understand it was there this morning when I got out of bed."

I sigh and reach behind me to pull the dagger out of my pocket and wiggle it slightly.

"What's going on? Where'd you find it?"

"Buried in your brothers chest," I tell her bluntly.

She flinches and shakes her head. "I didn't do it, Andrei. I don't even know Dago. Let alone know him well enough to want him dead."

Xander and Kade walk to her, each placing a hand on a shoulder, offering her comfort.

"Andrei's not saying that you did it, princess," Xander assures her.

"Did anyone come in here today?" I ask Cherish.

She shakes her head again, her eyes filling with tears. "No, just you guys and me. I haven't even met anyone around here that I'd even want to hang out with besides you three. As far as I know, we're the only ones who have been in here."

I let out a breath and set the dagger on the dresser. "So someone managed to get in here without any of us knowing?" I clarify, glancing to each of them before continuing. "Kade, you know the tunnels better than anyone of the guards, including myself and Xander. Is there an entrance in here?"

Kade's expression darkens. "Yes."

"What the fucking shit?!" Cherish shrieks, twirling to face Kade. "Are you fucking kidding me! There was a damn secret entrance to my room and you never told me?"

Kade and Xander flinch back from her, making my lips twitch. It's always amusing when she gets pissed. She's like an angry kitten. "Yes, there's another entrance. I didn't mention it because last I knew it hasn’t been accessible for years."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I mean no one's been able to open the door for years. There's a spell in place to prevent anyone from opening it. I don't know why or who put it up. I haven't been able to counteract it so that we have somewhere for Cherish to go while she's in here and something happens."

"Go check to see if the spell is still active. If it's not then we know that someone snuck in through the tunnels."

Kade nods and leaves the room. I look at Cherish and see she's still chewing on the pad of her thumb. I move over to her and gently pull her hand away from her mouth.

"I don't understand," she mumbles. "Why would someone make it look like I did it?"

My eyes meets Xander's for a brief moment before turning back to her. "You said that there were plenty of people here that weren't happy with you being here?"

She nods and glances off to the side, wrapping her arms around herself. "Pretty much everyone has some kind of anger or frustration with me being here. Dago didn't seem to care and I can't really get a feel for how Forrest thinks of me because his face is always hard to read. I tried actively reaching for his emotions to see what he was feeling earlier and I couldn't feel what he was feeling. Elazer hasn't outwardly shown any distaste towards me, but I know he's not happy with my being here. I think you guys and my father are the only ones that don't actually mind having me around."

"Elazer doesn't want you here?" I ask, shock blasting through my system. He's never once spoken out about her or her being here. Even before she came he seemed to be supportive of the king's choice to bring her here.

She moves to sit on the bed. "Nope. He doesn't give off the whole hate vibe that most of the others do, though. It's more of an annoyance, like he doesn't like that I'm here but he's accepted it."

"I'll speak to him and see what he thinks is going on later," I assure her.

She looks down at her hands, wringing them together. "If you plan on asking why he's not happy that I'm here, don't bother. It's not important. What is important is finding who killed Dago. So, please, just focus on that."

My chest tightens as I look at her, her expression dejected and showing how over she is of all the shit. "Of course." I look up when Kade enters the room, clearly full of rage. Guess that answers the question about the doorway.

"The spell is down and I have no idea how," he grinds out through clenched teeth.

"So someone is framing me for Dago's death?" Cherish asks, her voice cracking.

"It would seem that way." I glance at the watch on my wrist and know I need to make this quick before someone comes to find me and discovers the dagger and what happened with it.

"What are we going to do?" Kade asks.

"I'm going to get rid of the dagger and we should let the king know what's going on and convince him that pulling Cherish away from here is probably for the best." I lift her chin up with my finger so she meets my eyes. "Start packing. Pack light to be safe. Hopefully we'll leave here within the next couple hours."

She nods. Satisfied, I turn and leave her room. Entering my room, I stick the dagger in my safe and lock it shut, spelling it to keep anyone but me out of it. Once I'm sure there isn't any way for anyone to get in it I leave and go back to the room Dago died.

Elazer is talking with another guard when I enter the room. He looks up and tilts his head for me to come to him, making me grit my teeth. I hate being summoned by anyone that way. Unless it's the king or Cherish.

"What'd you find out?" He asks when I get near.

"It was a dead end," I tell him. Though it's not completely the truth, it's not totally a lie either.