Chapter 22
"Brother?" Arden gasped. She turned to the sisters and Duncan, her mind racing. She had served as a guard for five years, yet in all that time, she’d never heard a whisper of a male heir.
"He died before we were born," Eileen said softly, trying to take the edge off the revelation.
Duncan stood by the office window, his gaze fixed on something far beyond the glass. "That guestroom was his room. He passed shortly after he was born.”
A heavy silence fell over the room. Arden and Malakor traded a look, the air thick with the sudden, sharp weight of the family’s grief.
“I don’t mean to pry, but what happened?” Malakor asked.
Arden’s elbow caught him sharply in the ribs, drawing a low growl from his throat. “Could you be any more disrespectful?” she hissed.
“It’s fine, Arden.
