Roxanne sat on a bench in the neglected garden at the back of the castle. She had been working on pulling all the dead plants out and freshening up the soil so that it would be ready after the cold season. Now, she had gotten too big to do much even though she still had a few more dead vines to pull and bushes to uproot. She had not come back here to work, however, but to escape the chaos taking place inside. Her mind was in turmoil over what had just happened and how none of it made any sense. Why had Roland turned so quickly on Nikolai? She played the last few weeks Nikolai had been away over in her head and could not recall any time where Roland seemed anything but the loyal Beta. She had even recalled a few times when people came to him with problems and he said for them to wait until
