Had Grand General Devereaux been keeping the king paralyzed and ill with small doses of rienevoir? If Jade had had any food in her stomach, she might not have been able to keep it there.
Their own grand general, the highest rank in the military, had been working against the king and possibly Prince Reynauld. That was treason of the purest kind. She’d allowed for the death of the man she’d sworn to protect.
Jade could never ask her about it. She knew Devereaux wouldn’t give a truthful answer. Even the implication coming from a lower-ranking officer could be considered impertinent and bordering on treasonous. If it was true, of course, Devereaux would be removed from the military, either through a trial by the military’s other generals or by the ruling monarch herself. To keep her position, Devereaux would have to ensure no one ever found out. So the fact that she’d said what she did to Jade wasn’t a slip. She’d wanted her to know.
Was it because of their shared familiarity with Nicolas? Did she think Jade was an ally? Had Nicolas told Devereaux things about her?
Jade had to do something, had to tell someone. But who? She had no evidence. No proof that Devereaux had known of Nicolas’s orchestration of the conflict or that she had been working with him to poison the king. Jade had no idea how deep Devereaux’s involvement went, but the conversation they had just had proved Devereaux felt untouchable.
Clenching her jaw, Jade pushed off the rail and stepped back, then crossed her arms tightly over her chest. This would be her own personal mission. She would have to approach it inconspicuously, carefully. It was theperfect opportunity to put her skills to use, to see how much she could do completely on her own. Well, not completely on her own. She would tell Theo. She always worked better with Theo.
No matter how long it took, Jade would investigate Grand General Devereaux. It would be a delicate process, taking any evidence of Devereaux’s treason to the military’s generals and other leadership and accusing her of such wrongdoing. But she had to learn the truth.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Jade’s knives sank deep into the target, taking some of her restlessness with them. The two weeks since the coronation had been quiet. After so many months of being on assignment and then her time undercover, Jade didn’t know what to do with herself.
She’d finished up work in the archives, which had at least kept her mind engaged. Among the documents and records, she found a few more pieces of information that tied into Nicolas or the conflict as a whole, but they only confirmed things she already knew. She’d even looked into Grand General Devereaux as far back as she could in the documents present at Ivanelli. The records proved Devereaux had been working in the castle since before the prince was born, stationed there initially as a sergeant and then working her way up. Jade had found a couple documents that placed Devereaux and Artis together in his childhood. The more Jade considered it, the more she believed Irenn Devereaux knew everything there was to know about the true prince and had been working with him upon his return.
Jade crossed the space to the target and yanked her knives out of the wood. She’d been at this for at least half an hour, arriving right after inspection and morning announcements when everyone else had gone to the dining hall for breakfast. She would go later. She preferred the solitude in the training arena, so she took the opportunities when they arose.
Jade repositioned herself across from the target, took a deep breath through her nose, and raised her arm to throw the knife, but a voice behind her stopped her before she had the chance.
“I thought I’d find you in here.”
The hard focus on Jade’s face softened as she turned to face Theo. He stood a few paces away, arms crossed and a half-smile on his face. Jade met his sparkling eyes and smiled in return, her insides warming at the way he looked at her.
“Willing to share?” he asked with a glance at the knives.
Jade nodded, and he stepped over to her. She handed him the knives and gave him the space to make his throws. He winced as he threw the first, and it missed the target’s center.
Jade’s eyebrows knitted together as she studied him. “Your shoulder?”
Theo straightened and rolled his right shoulder in its socket. “It’s a lot better now, but yeah. Certain movements still tweak it.”
In spite of the pain, Theo threw the other two knives. Jade’s lips curved down in a frown as he went to retrieve them. When he returned, he held them out to her, but then he lowered them and used his other hand to tip her chin up toward him instead.
“Gem.”
The gentle endearment drew Jade’s eyes up to him. Her heart flipped at the love pouring from his features. She didn’t deserve his easy forgiveness.
“I still feel awful about it,” she said quietly. Her throat tightened, and she tried to shove the emotion down. “If we hadn’t made it here in time—”
“Hey.” The soft word came out in a breath as Theo put the knives on the floor beside them and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to him. “We talked about this. It wasn’t your fault.”
Jade squeezed her eyes shut and allowed herself to relax in Theo’s embrace. With her face pressed against his chest, she inhaled his scent. It always made her feel at home.
Theo rubbed a comforting hand up and down her back, bringing her to a calmness she only knew with him. Jade pulled her face away and tilted her head back to look up at him, her arms still wound around his torso.
“I love you,” she said, a weighty sincerity in her voice as her eyes held his.
Theo leaned down and kissed her, a soft, lingering kiss that sent a flurry through Jade’s stomach. When he broke the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers. “I love you too. Now and always.”
Jade smiled at the repetition of her words from the first time they’d kissed. “Now and always.”
She kissed him again, but the distant opening of a door and murmur of voices broke them apart. Theo grinned down at her and laced the fingers of one hand through hers. “Come get some breakfast with me.”
Jade arched an eyebrow. “You haven’t eaten?”
