''Marie is dead.''
Levina felt a rush of anger that metamorphosed into heart-wrenching sadness. She hugged her bathrobe tightly against her chest as hot tears burned her, blinding her. She blinked, and the tears rolled freely down her face.
"It can't be," she muttered with quivering lips. "She was fine the last time I saw her. What happened to her?"
"Soren suggested that she be tortured until she tells the truth. But that evening, when one of the guards went to give her dinner, he found her dead," Aerilyn shook her head. "She had bitten off her tongue and choked on it."
Levina shook her head in disbelief. Marie did not seem suicidal; why would she kill herself?
"I think she killed herself so she wouldn't have to reveal those she was working with on the attack on Prince Lucien," Aerilyn reached for Levina's hand, but she snatched her hand away.
"Maybe she killed herself because Soren was going to torture her!" Levina retorted angrily.
