Jade released a pent-up, incredulous sigh. She straightened, taking creeping steps deeper into the woods. Far ahead, she spotted a break in the trees, and beyond that, the road. But it was too far. Even if he’d made a mad dash for it the moment she’d ducked back behind the tree, he wouldn’t have reached it before she looked for him again.
She trod over to where he had stood last and kneeled to study the ground. The soil was packed hard, and the imprint of his boots was faint. None of the dirt, leaves, and twigs around the spot appeared impacted or displaced, indicative of a trail.
The man had simply vanished.
Jade knew better than to linger. Too long and she would go from hunter to hunted.
She turned and sprinted back toward the manor, every so often throwing her head over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed, but she never was. Had she imagined the man? No, he was too real, even in the dark.
Reaching the border of the estate, Jade reconvened with her backup, one of whom held the reins of her own horse. She mounted without a word, and they tore off through the night.
Two
Sleep evaded Jade in thehours that remained of the night.
Where had the killer gone? Surely not past the grove of trees. So why hadn’t she been able to find him? It didn’t make sense.
Perhaps if her mind hadn’t gone down the ridiculous path of thinking she should engage the killer and try to stop him then and there, she wouldn’t have wasted precious seconds and lost him. Where had that thought even come from? She had never worked like that and couldn’t puzzle out why her mind had gone in that direction. The idea had cost her the killer’s trail.
Instead, Jade cycled back through what she did know. She recalled every minute detail she had observed for what felt like the hundredth time. Tall, likely over six feet. Strong. Secretive. Agile, moving surprisingly quietly for his frame. His hood had been pulled low and further shadowed the man’s face in the night, so she’d never determined anything about his features. It was entirely unhelpful and monumentally frustrating.
Tired of rehashing the same useless information over and over again, Jade pushed the image of the killer out of her mind. Her thoughts drifted back to the library, to the victim, to the fire. To the burning book.
He’d wanted to get rid of it, but why? All Jade had gathered was the name of the late prince, which was nothing terribly unusual, given that his death had resulted in the issues around succession. The book could have contained some of Count Aubergine’s records supporting Lady Arabella’s claim to the throne. Or perhaps it incriminated the killer somehow.
A knock sounded on Jade’s door, and her eyelids snapped open. Sunlight streamed through her window. She had fallen asleep after all.
“Captain Ni’ihm?” a voice called to her through the door of her room. “Commander Matherson sent me to check on you.”
And she’d slept through her briefing with Matherson.
Blazing plague.
Jade flung the covers off and jumped to her feet, the haze of sleep still clutching tightly to her mind.
“Captain?”
Jade recognized the voice. Mena, one of the soldiers in her company.
“Thank you, Trooper Haan,” Jade finally said, her voice croaking. “Please tell Commander Matherson I’m on my way.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Faint footsteps sounded briefly on the other side of the door before they were gone.
Jade rushed into her bathroom—a luxury afforded to captains and higher-ranking officers—to get ready as quickly as she could. Though tempted to drag her feet, considering her defiance of orders the previous night and the lack of good information to report, it did her no favors to be exceptionally late to a briefing.
Jade splashed water from the sink onto her face and patted it dry. With the last remnants of sleep gone, routine took over. She braided her thick,dark brown tresses as fast as her fingers would fly and wrapped the braid around her head, pinning it with quick, practiced motions.
After tugging on her pants and throwing arms in her white sleeveless undershirt and gray uniform jacket, Jade slipped her feet into her dress boots and laced them deftly. For the final details, she buttoned up the jacket, slid a belt around her waist, and straightened her insignia. The badge only identified her rank as a captain, not her status as an intelligence agent. Such a detail was kept confidential, known only to those in her battalion and not a part of her official uniform.
Jade stopped for a beat, inhaling to settle herself after her rush to get ready, then opened her bedroom door into the barracks. She took measured, purposeful steps down the long hallway, through the common area, and outside into the courtyard.
Anxiety swirled in her gut as she walked and considered the conversation ahead. Jade would have to admit that she had gone against orders and entered Count Aubergine’s homeandthat she had encountered the man she believed to be the killer and lost him. She’d failed the mission Matherson had sent her on.
Doubt ate away at her. Was that what she was reduced to without tips from her mysterious informant? A reckless espionage agent who nearly got herself caught and lost the very trail she was instructed to find.
She would tell Matherson everything, of course. This wasn’t the same as keeping her mysterious informant a secret, the reason she kept having repeated success with her missions and gaining continual commendations. As long as the information was good and Jade accomplished the objective for the benefit of their cause, she saw no harm in keeping that little detail to herself.
