A Servant Lost (Alys Book #1)

Chapter 22

Alys felt much less anxious after she awoke from her nap. She was alone in the room, and there were no angry voices coming from the dining room.

Hoping that this might mean some ordeals had been discussed and figured out, Alys slowly got up and walked into the sitting room. Dastrehan sat on a sofa with the captain they had seen before standing in front of him. They were talking quietly until Dastrehan saw Alys approaching.

"Did you sleep well?" Dastrehan asked her as she came to stand beside his sofa. His voice was full of concern, and Alys felt guilty for being such a hassle.

"I did," she replied quietly, "it's nice and cool in there."

"Good," Dastrehan turned his attention back to the captain, "you were saying?"

The soldier nodded to Alys in a brief but polite greeting and filled them both in on the updates for the palace's situation.

The guards had found 3 men hiding in the stable, one who was the man who had escaped after the ambush in the hall while King Dastrehan and Alys had been eating. The guards had managed to get enough information out of them to find 11 more men and 3 women who were disguised as various palace workers, all of whom were planning further attacks in the palace. After more interrogations, the traitors had given up the name of a previously disgraced reeve, who had provided the information to allow for so many people to take up positions in the palace without being noticed. The guards had gone to retrieve the former reeve, but he had already escaped with the help of the men and women who had been planning on carrying out further attacks at the palace.

It was too much information for Alys to take in, on top of being extremely alarming.

Dastrehan slowly rose to stand up and walk to the large window at the back of the room when then captain had stopped talking.

"Who was the man that provided the information to the others?" He asked calmly, his back turned to them.

The captain hesitated for a moment, glancing quickly sideways at Alys.

"That would be the former Captain of the King's Guard, Lord Gax."

Dastrehan clenched his fists but was silent. Alys stared at the captain in shock and slowly sank down to sit on a sofa.

Gax had betrayed the king.

Alys shook her head; that could not be correct.

"But he's been locked up in the dungeons for months." She protested weakly.

The captain said nothing.

The sun was setting, casting dark yellow and orange light through the large window and around Dastrehan. He looked as if he was trying to draw strength from the final rays of the sun.

"How many guards have we lost?"

Dastrehan's voice sounded choked. Alys could not begin to fathom how upset he must be.

"Seven. An additional three are in the infirmary and are expected to recover."

Dastrehan reached his hands up to run his fingers through his dark hair and sighed deeply.

As shocked as she already was, Alys still felt her heart drop when she heard the captain's words.

Seven men dead. 3 more injured.

Gax's betrayal has already cost 7 lives.

Alys suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She stood up faster than she had thought possible in her condition and hurried through Dastrehan's bed room and into his bathing room.