I hated going back to Sariel’s office. It was bad enough that he’d seen Ivetta and me arguing. Now, I had to tell him everything was going forward again. It all made me look like a simpering fool, easily swayed by her whims. While it was true that she was the only one who could get away with talking to me like that, and the only one who could get me to change my mind, I hadn’t given in completely. It was really more of a compromise, with me consenting to not postpone anything, and her consenting to not attend the ball.
Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I would start to believe it.
“King Chevalier,” Sariel greeted me with a tight-lipped smile. “Change of plans?”
I slammed the door shut behind me and walked over to his desk.
“Your previous orders still stand. Nokto will aid you in your local investigation; Leon and Yves will handle the initial questioning; Clavis and I will do the intensive interrogation. We’ll leverage Jin’s network of spies to infiltrate Obsidian. Licht will prepare the troops and tighten security.”
That only left Luke, the lazy lay about. He was too soft-hearted to help with torture. If I was pulling everybody into this, it was only fair that I give him a job, too.
He was a decent messenger boy.
“Luke left for Benitoite when you left for the border,” Sariel commented.
That took care of that problem. Never mind that there was only one reason I could think of for him to go there, and I thought he had enough sense to stop fawning over Arianna after he heard about the way she'd spoken to Ivetta. Not that I had any room to judge. Attraction to a woman could make a fool of a much better man than Luke.
“The ceremony is still going forward, but Ivetta will not be attending the ball,” I added coolly, turning back to the door.
“I understand,” Sariel replied, a hint of a smirk in his voice.
I gritted my teeth and left. There was nothing I could say to change the fact that Ivetta had gotten her way, and Sariel knew it. But I couldn’t dwell on that. I had work to do, starting with disseminating my orders to my brothers.
“Thought I might be seeing you,” Leon commented when I entered his office. “Ivetta okay?”
“She’s fine,” I said shortly. “Take Yves to Sariel’s office. You will be questioning suspects. Send anybody suspicious to the dungeons.”
Leon frowned, his amber eyes hard. “I’d hoped this was just a simple case of jealousy that Ivetta got you and somebody else’s daughter didn’t.”
“The emperor of Obsidian wants her dead.”
He let out a low whistle. “That’s crazy.”
“Indeed. Where’s Jin?”
“Last I saw him, he was talking with Clavis. They were headed to your office.”
Clavis was probably filling Jin in and enlisting his aid. Their combined network of informants was quite powerful.
“And Licht?”
“Training with the troops, as usual,” Leon said, standing up and heading for the door. “He hasn’t said anything, but he’s upset about Nokto.”
“So long as he doesn’t try to get himself killed next.”
“Yeah, they’ve got a bad habit of doing that. Wish they’d just talk to each other already. It’s been years. Maybe you should issue them an order as their king.”
“Another time, perhaps,” I said, following Leon out into the hallway. Neither of us smiled at his attempted levity. He left in search of Yves; I entered my office.
“Hey, Chev,” Clavis said with his usual grin, seated on my desk. “You could have left a note. I got back last night and didn’t know what was going on.”
“Which wasn’t an excuse for you to barge into my room in the middle of the night,” Nokto muttered, hard at work on a stack of papers.
“Clavis has been telling me we’ve got a problem with Obsidian,” Jin chimed in, leaning against the wall next to Nokto with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I need to know the situation there, specifically if Gilbert is still alive.”
Nokto looked up at that. “You think he’s dead?”
“Get moving,” I told Jin, taking my seat behind my desk.
“Got it,” Jin said, heading for the door. “Clavis already sent some men before he left the barony last night. With any luck, mine will meet his on their way back, and we’ll have some answers by tonight or tomorrow.”
“Now would be the time for you to compliment me on my excellent foresight and intuition,” Clavis said with a smug grin.
“Nokto, full report,” I said, ignoring Clavis.
Nokto sighed and straightened up in his chair. I hadn’t taken a good look at him last night, but he was paler than usual.
“There has been a lot of new trade with Obsidian since you signed the treaty, and not all of it has been above board. A new Obsidianite business associate of mine heard that a tavern in town had signed an exclusive trade agreement with a well-known Obsidianite winery.”
“Don’t tell me it’s the Rose and the Thorn,” Clavis groaned.
Nokto only spared Clavis an annoyed glance. “But he’s familiar with that wine, and the stuff they’re peddling behind the bar isn’t the genuine article.”
“Jin will be crushed.”
I silenced Clavis with a glare.
“The whole deal was a front to hide communications between the emperor and several expatriated Obsidianite families in the area. My business associate procured one of the letters and delivered it to me. It promised a substantial reward if Ivetta was killed, so naturally I went looking for her. That was when Sariel found that her schedule had been altered to send her to one of those families for an apparently innocent tea party.”
“Hence the hastily written note,” Clavis commented, his golden eyes darkening.
“I knew it would freak you guys out, but I didn’t have time to write more,” Nokto said with a shrug. “Anyway, I suspected they would try poisoning Ivetta, and I was right.”
“You didn’t have to drink it yourself,” I said disapprovingly.
“I needed proof to make an arrest.”
“Haven’t I taught you anything?” Clavis chided him. “People always leave incriminating evidence lying around. A little snooping would have gotten what you needed.”
“Like the recipe for the poison, along with the specific antidote?” Nokto asked, holding up a piece of paper with a smirk.
Clavis sighed heavily. “Just like that. Nokto-”
“I didn’t get this until after the tea party, and I already got the lecture from Ivetta last night, thanks,” he said irritably.
“Wait, what happened last night?” Clavis asked hopefully, grinning again.
“Later,” I interrupted. “Nokto, work with Sariel to track down all the letters. Clavis and I will be in the dungeons.”
“Oh goodie, we haven’t had a good torture session in a while,” Clavis said, his golden eyes hardening as he jumped off the desk. “Might want to take it easy on your hands, Chev. Unless you’re postponing the ceremony?”
“No.”
He laughed as he headed out the door. “Of course not. These idiots didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.”
“Ivetta will want to see you,” I added to Nokto as I stood up.
He frowned. “I don’t know about that. Last night is pretty fuzzy after the fever set in. I know I was talking a lot, but I have no idea what I said.”
“Nothing to make her stop worrying about you. She’ll probably be in the library.”
Clavis was waiting in the hallway, his golden eyes glittering with amusement as I shut the door behind me.
“So, what happened last night?”
“The antidote only nullifies the killing mechanism of that poison,” I replied as I started walking.
“You got all that just from glancing at the recipes?” he asked incredulously.
“She found him sick with a fever and took care of him until I got back,” I continued, ignoring Clavis’ idiotic question.
Clavis chuckled. “Almost makes me want to run off and poison myself, too.”
“I don’t have patience for your jokes today,” I snapped.
“So I’ve noticed. You’re even less fun than usual. Are we going to be interrogating the entire expatriated Obsidianite population?”
“Only the ones Leon and Yves deem to be a threat.”
“Not too many, then,” Clavis mused. “Banishment or escape from Obsidian are the best outcomes for people who have fallen out of favor with the emperor. Most of them probably hate him more than you do. The ones we’ll end up with are men who will stab their own grandmothers in the back for a bit of power or money.”
“Not just men,” I corrected him. “The poisoning attempt was orchestrated solely by a widowed noblewoman.”
“Yeah, but even you wouldn’t beat up a woman for Ivetta. What do you plan on doing with her?”
“Carting her back to Obsidian and dropping her on the emperor’s doorstep.”
Clavis laughed again. “And here I thought you were going soft on me.” He stretched his arms out in front of him, interlocking his fingers as he stretched. “Unless somebody came up with something a little more creative than poisoning her tea, this isn’t going to take long at all. I’m not feeling too forgiving toward anybody who wants to hurt Ivetta.” He glanced over at me and smirked. “And you’re looking downright murderous.”
I was feeling downright murderous, too. The point of this exercise was to uncover any plots against her, and to identify any outside help who had been hired to take part in the scheming. Rhodolite had enough native pond scum without the addition of greedy nobility from Obsidian. At least I didn’t have to worry about her safety while Clavis and I cleaned up the mess Leon and Yves sent to the dungeons. Julius hadn’t rotated out of her guard detail today. She was fine. And I was going to make sure that didn’t change.
It was only a few hours, only a few men who had taken the emperor seriously, but those few hours felt like an eternity.
“Whoa, Chev, went a little overboard?” Clavis asked, leaning in the open doorway of the cell where I was just turning away from my last victim.
“No,” I said coolly, glaring at Clavis until he moved so I could pass. He was as bloody as I was. Neither of us were as bloody as the body behind me.
“You’re just leaving the door open?”
“He’s not going anywhere. You,” I ordered the nearest guard, who nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized I was speaking to him. “Call the undertaker.”
“Y-yes, your highness,” he stammered, his face pale.
“How many did you kill?” Clavis asked nonchalantly as we headed for the exit.
“Just that one.”
“Wow, I’m impressed by your restraint,” he commented, smirking. “I’m not used to having a body count higher than yours.”
I glanced over at him. His tone was as light as usual, but his golden eyes were as hard as polished metal.
“You know, I’m all for a good scheme and a hefty dose of chaos, but I like to know something about the person I’m messing with. Hardly any of these guys knew more than her name and her title, and they didn’t even need to know that much to be ready and willing to kill her.” He sighed and shrugged. “Glad there weren’t too many of them.”
“Agreed.”
Nokto met us outside of the dungeons, frowning as he looked us over. “Guess I don’t have to ask how that went. Get cleaned up for dinner. Yves is treating us.”
“Sounds like a celebration,” Clavis said happily, stretching his arms above his head.
“Of sorts. Everything’s all wrapped up. There’s nothing left to do but wait for Jin,” Nokto replied.
“Then it is too early to celebrate,” I interjected.
“Lighten up, Chev. Maybe you need to go see your little dove, hm?” Clavis suggested with a grin.
I shot him a glare.
“Well, after you get cleaned up, of course.”
Much as I wanted to see her, I couldn’t even think of touching her after bloodying my hands all afternoon. A hot bath, clean pajamas, and a good book. That was how I planned to end my day. I had no appetite for dinner, even if Yves made it. With any luck, Jin’s men would come back tonight or tomorrow with the report on Obsidian, and this whole mess would be over.
Nokto peeled away from us at some point, and Clavis finally stopped talking, a testament to just how exhausted he was from the day. We continued in silence on the most direct path back to our rooms. I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings until I saw one of Ivetta’s guards in the hall and realized we were en route to pass the library. Clavis glanced at me as the guard ducked into the library and shut the door behind him.
“She must be in there right now,” Clavis said quietly. “If we go back now-”
“Just keep moving,” I muttered. We were too close for her to miss us if she came out now. Julius must be inside with her. I hoped he and the other guard had the sense to keep her there a few minutes longer.
But the door opened again, and she stepped out into the hallway just as Clavis and I walked past. A single glance over her head at the guards confirmed that this was not their idea. She met my eyes, her head held high and her green eyes cold, and she looked me over, head to toe.
“Your clothes are ruined,” she said coolly, and then she walked away.
I didn’t say anything. Neither did Clavis until we turned a corner.
“I don’t know why I’m surprised,” he muttered. “It’s not like you’d be interested in a fainting daisy.”
Not at all, but I knew she didn’t like showing weakness any more than I did. Usually, she hid everything behind a smile. Her angry outburst earlier today, that cold, hard expression just now - none of it was normal for her. Me, yes. Her, no. It didn’t suit her at all. And it only made me worry about her more when I sank into the hot water in my bathtub a few minutes later.
This was supposed to relax me.
I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t get Ivetta’s face out of my head. She wouldn’t want to see me again tonight. Not after seeing me covered in blood like that. I should just stick to my original plan. Change into pajamas, read for a while, go to bed. Maybe tomorrow would be different. If Jin brought good news, it would be different. I could spend the day with her, truly unwind. Tonight was a lost cause.
I’d left the book I was currently reading in the library. It would be simple enough to pick another book from the shelves in my room, but none of them appealed to me. I reluctantly dressed and headed back to the library.
Her guards were posted there again.
“You’re no good to me if you fall asleep on the job,” I said to Julius as he stepped aside from the door. The dark circles under his eyes were all too evident.
“She has already ordered me to rotate out with the next change, your highness,” he replied.
Of course she did.
The sun set early this time of year, and the library was dark, lit only by the stars in the clear, moonless sky outside the many windows. I didn’t see her at first. She wasn’t sitting in the alcove, and there was no light under the door to the back room to signify her presence there. I glanced around at the sofas and chairs, my eyes settling on a sofa that was facing the windows, its back to me. My boots sounded unnaturally loud on the sections of hardwood floor in between the rugs as I made my way toward it. As I suspected, she was there, lying on her side, the silvery starlight shining in her troubled green eyes.
“May I join you?”
She looked up at me, her eyes searching mine. There was no anger or disgust in her gaze.
“Yes.”
She pulled her feet toward her to clear a space for me. I sat down, unsure what to say or do next, automatically removing my gloves as I always did when I was around her. There were no bruises on my knuckles. I usually handled interrogations bare-handed, but I’d left my gloves on this time in an effort to protect my hands for the ceremony.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I looked over at her thoughtfully. That was the question I should be posing to her.
“There isn’t any bruising,” I said simply.
She sighed and looked back toward the windows. “That’s not what I meant.”
I frowned, contemplating her still, small form, lonely in the dark. She wasn’t upset with me. She was worried about me. As if there was any reason for that.
“Move forward,” I finally said.
“What?”
I didn’t provide any further explanation, lying down in the tight space between the back of the sofa and her. She didn’t protest, allowing me to slide a hand under her waist to meet my other hand wrapping around her. Her hair smelled of lilacs as I nuzzled into her neck.
“Now I’m okay,” I murmured in her ear. Better than okay, actually. This felt right.
“Good,” she replied softly.
I kissed her neck lightly. “What about you?”
She sighed. “It’s not that I’m scared anything will happen to me. I know you’re not going to let that happen; I know that everybody around me is trying to keep me safe. But it just…I guess it just came as a shock, that’s all.”
“I’m not losing you, Ivetta,” I said softly. “No matter what it takes, I’m not losing you.”
“Chevalier…” she started, her voice trailing off for a moment, and then returning with a slight tremor. “You’re going to make me cry.”
I pulled my cloak down over both of us and wrapped my arm tightly around her again.
“Cry if you want. Nobody is looking.”
“No,” she said firmly, folding her arms over mine. “I’d rather enjoy this moment. I feel like it’s been such a long day, but I slept through half of it and read for the rest of it, so I really don’t have any right to say that. You’ve been doing all the work.”
“You slept in?” I asked, closing my eyes. This was too warm and comfortable. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall asleep.
“Yeah, I guess I was pretty worn out after last night. Nokto’s fever got so high that he became delirious.”
“He didn’t hurt you?” I asked, concern waking me up again.
“No, not unless you count him telling me about his miserable childhood. That was pretty painful, and I don’t have to live with it like he does.”
I sighed, images of Licht’s bloodied knuckles after a brutal whipping flashing through my mind.
“His mother was an unstable woman.”
“Clearly,” Ivetta agreed.
She fell silent, as did I. Neither of the twins had talked about any of it since the night before their tenth birthday, when their mother snapped and tried to kill Nokto. The night Licht killed his own mother to save his brother. Neither of them had really talked to each other since then, either.
“I used to wonder why you and your brothers didn’t have any manners,” Ivetta said quietly. “Now I wonder how you managed to turn out as decently as you did.”
Decent? In spite of the difficult subject, I had to chuckle at that. She’d just seen me covered in blood after an extensive torture session.
“You think I’m decent?”
“Well, you have your rough patches here or there, but overall, I think you’re alright,” she teased, taking the opportunity to further lighten the mood.
I kissed her neck again. “I’m a dangerous man, Ivetta. You shouldn’t forget that.”
She giggled. “You’re too tired to be dangerous right now.”
True. I could do little more than imagine pushing her shoulder down and climbing on top of her, kissing her with all the passion I could muster after this miserable day. Maybe another time.
“Then may I stay here a while longer?” I asked softly.
“Well, since we’re breaking all the rules anyway, what’s one more?”
She was tired, too.
“Good.” I shifted us slightly, pillowing my head on the cushion above hers, my chin resting on her hair as I closed my eyes. “Tell me when you want to leave.”
She didn’t say anything else. The warmth of holding her in my arms, the sound of her steady breathing in the otherwise still room, lulled me to sleep in a matter of minutes.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhauot5tfzd
