The aviary keeper had left blood on the palace wall and his boots beneath his bed.
He had not left willingly.
By midday, Elias had officers searching river gates while Princess Elinor questioned every stable boy personally. Viola found the princess in the empty aviary holding Archibald's silver feeding cup.
“You promised he would not be bait,” Elinor said.
“He was taken after we stopped following him.”
“That is not better.”
No, it was not.
Viola sat beside her on the straw-covered floor despite the protest from her bruised hip. “The feather warned us. Whoever delivered it may have been trying to save him.”
“Or threatening him.”
“Yes.”
Elinor looked at her sharply. Adults usually softened fear for children until it became a lie. Viola would not insult her that way.
“Four knots me
