Free Guardian of His Heart [Guardian 2] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) by Lacey Denair

recorded and documented, which he signed. He believed his sister was insane. As much as he would like his own revenge on Saber and Frederico, he hedged his bets just in case Margaret pulled something on him. Which, of course, she did.
    When King Frederico returned home, he was heartbroken to discover the facts he had been given were true and his palace was under seize.
    When the smoke cleared, the “Empress Margaret” sat upon her throne of gold. She had been smart enough to instate a puppet high council who would do her bidding. No longer would the high council decide who should rule. They would now answer to a crazy woman. Margaret instated her mother as the dowager empress.
    Only the Dragon High Council could revoke or instate a royal family. The council decided who would bear the burden of caring for Saibina. When Margaret’s family was disinherited because her grandmother tried to destroy the country with commercial mining, it was the council who stripped the Dragonslight family of its power to ever rule again. But Margaret so hated the king, her focus was completely on him.
    The king was informed that although his royal guards had fought valiantly to save their prince, standing at one hundred fifty-three strong inside the palace when Margaret’s mercenaries took over, they didn’t stand much of a chance against four hundred. They had all died that night in defense of their prince and his family. Unfortunately, as was dragon custom, the last of the men were no mercy. Palace staff and their families were dismissed and allowed to leave, replaced with those deemed loyal to Margaret after being “interviewed.”
    Margaret placed a fox and wolf shifter on retainer to help with the interviewing of new staff. They could smell lies and any form of deceit. Just what Margaret needed.
    After removing anything that could be used as a weapon, the high council and their families were divided by gender. The women with girl children and babies were placed in the grand ballroom, as it had eight bathrooms. Men with boy children down to three were placed in the grand conference room, as it had four bathrooms. The new guards knew it would be a good tactic to separate the families so they could be used as leverage for control of the prisoners.
    Ty and the twins had been taken to the grand conference room with the other men. Ty was terrified. He knew Gabriel was next in line after Saber then Ryan. This made him fear for their little three-year-old lives. A “trial” had been set up for the following week, and Ty knew what was coming. Margaret would find some trumped-up charge to have Saber, himself, and the babies murdered. He was also afraid for the high council. She would definitely want to get rid of them.
    King Frederico, his commander of the guard, and captains worked relentlessly on retaking the palace with as few casualties as possible. Not knowing the location of the prince, his family and the high council made storming the palace very risky indeed. They needed information from the inside, but all the king’s staff had been replaced.
    A small woman named Mary Spawnstone, without anyone’s knowledge, took it upon herself and applied for the position of linen servant under the new ruler, saying during the interview how she felt women should be given higher standing in the royal family and she had no problem at all serving her “empress.” She was hired. What no one but her family knew was that Mary had the ability to mask her emotions so well, even the wolf and fox couldn’t smell her lies. As a linen servant, she virtually had free rein of the palace and proceeded to gather information for her king. Mary’s father became sick with a mystery illness at one time a little over two hundred years ago. When it was brought to the king’s attention, Frederico had his finest physicians take over the case. Bringing Mary’s father, Carlos, and his family to the palace, the illness was researched, and finally with help from a Fae