Sniff took a deep breath in. “They… they have my mother,” he said solemnly.
Katryna looked to Finn, then back at Sniff. “Who? Who has your mother?”
Sniff shook his head. “The ones who are doin’ all this.”
“Alright, Sniff. That’s good; really good. But you need to tell us more. We can help you; we can help your mother.”
Finn took a step closer, patting the boy on his shoulder. “You can trust us. We aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”
“He came into the stable where I was working, couple months back,” Sniff began. “He told me he knew where I lived and knew about my mother. He told me he had a job for me, and that if I didn’t do as he says, that he’d kill me mother.”
“Okay, that’s good Sniff, well done,” Katryna said in an assuring tone. “Who was this man?”
“I don’t know ‘is name. He never told me.”
“What’s he look like?”
“Um…” Sniff thought for a moment. “About your age. Dark hair. Dressed somewhat fancy. I’m not sure.”
Katryna realised it sounded an awful lot like her brother, Rowan. Despite having her near-certain suspicion about him already, it still made her stomach sink to hear the recognisable description.
“And what did he want you to do for him?” Katryna asked.
Sniff began to sob. “I… I can’t tell you. He took my mother, princess. He still has her. He took her as assurance!”
“Sniff, you have to tell us. If you don’t, we may not be able to help you or your mother. What did he ask you to do?”
Through his tears and weeping, Sniff stuttered only several words. “He… he asked me to… poison… the king and queen.”
Katryna gasped audibly, feeling her hands begin to shake once again. She was staring at the person who had poisoned her parents… the boy who had poisoned them.
How could this be? Who could have done this? Why?
Katryna was shocked. They had found their assassin.
A flock of pigeons fluttered away overhead from the tiled rooftops, cooing in unison.
“I didn’t want to,” Sniff cried. He was clearly petrified of the consequences of his actions.
Every peasant knew that regicide was one of the worst crimes a person could commit, if not the very worst.
But Katryna fought through the emotion of the words she was hearing. She needed to be strong, for Finn and for this boy, and that meant keeping a clear head.
“It’s okay, Sniff. If this man forced you to do it, then it isn’t your fault. You aren’t going to be in trouble.”
“He snuck me into Castle Bower… he made me dress as a cupbearer. I served ‘em their drinks during their meeting with those masked foreigners. I swear, I didn’t want to!” Sniff said. “He made me do it. He said he’d kill my mother!”
“I believe you,” Katryna reassured.
Even Finn was looking wide-eyed and speechless, yet he remained willing to listen to what the boy had to say.
“But what about the night you came to see me? My father and aunt, did you murder them as well?” Katryna said.
“No, m’lady, I swear I didn’t,” Sniff said sternly. “After I was poisoned the wine, he told me t’stay low, and keep quiet about the king and queen. And then, you came into my shop.”
No wonder he appeared so shocked when I told him who I was. He was serving the daughter of the people he had poisoned.
Katryna wiped the sweat from her brow. “Thank you for telling us all this, Sniff. But we need to know who the man is.”
“I don’t know what else t’say.”
Katryna thought for a moment. “Before, you said ‘they’. That they have your mother?”
Sniff nodded.
“Is it more than one person doing this?” Finn asked.
Sniff nodded again, sobbing.
Katryna gulped with both the astonishment of finally getting somewhere, as well as the dread of realising that this may go further than just Sniff and one other man.
“The man always said ‘we’. He said that ‘is partner ‘as my mother, and that she would do terrible things to her if I don’t do as they say.”
“Wait, ‘she’ will do things to your mother?” Katryna asked. “As in, a man and a woman are behind all of this?”
“She snuck into my room one night a few nights back. Woke me up from my sleep with a blade to my throat. She said if I say anything to anyone that I’m dead, and the princess is dead,” Sniff said. “She sounded desperate. That’s why I came t’warn you.”
Finn gulped. “Could it be Rowan… and Ofelia?”
The thought was a horrid one and made Katryna wince. Could they truly be in on this together? Ofelia had seemed so genuine and honest when she had first met her. It seemed impossible for such a woman to be responsible.
“I only saw her one other time,” Sniff suddenly recalled. “The night you came to visit the stables with your horse. I remembered the golden hair and the scar on her face. I saw her again when she snuck up on me in my sleep.”
Katryna felt the façade of everything around her suddenly shift and collapse. In an instant, it was as if the curtain of mistruths had been ripped apart, revealing the awful, honest reality that had been in front of her the whole time.
Everything clicked into place.
Katryna stood tall, clenching her fists, and staring into nothingness for a moment as she figured out each and every intricate detail that she had suddenly uncovered.
How didn’t I see this before?
“Thank you, Sniff,” Katryna said, a little too calmly despite the anguish in her eyes. “I promise, I will do
