Jade gasped and rose to her feet. “One of the contenders? They’ve never been targeted before.”
“It would seem things have changed.”
Jade’s mind went to Arabella first, but Grannam and Marchand were close behind. “Who?”
“The Marquess of Carsill.”
A frown creased Jade’s brow. “Lord Arthur? Why him? He’s no threat.” She’d barely paid attention to the man in all her months of investigation. He was a younger cousin to King Mervyn, Prince Reynauld, and Lord Grannam, but he had no legitimate claim to the throne. He’d thrown his name into the hat, but no one took him seriously. Arthur would never be king.
“According to what I have gathered,” Nicolas began slowly, taking deliberate steps toward Jade, “he has uncovered something about Lord Grannam and is prepared to make it known. His goal is to take Grannam out of contentionandto make himself appear more suitable.”
Jade dropped her eyes from Nicolas, roving them over the space in front of her without seeing anything. If the contenders for the throne were targets of this killer—of Lord Grannam—now, then no one was safe. Not Reynauld, or Arabella, or even Alanna...
A vise clenched around Jade’s heart at the thought. The memory of Alanna’s quiet smile came to mind, as did her encouragement to her sister after the footman’s magic had been revealed. Marguerite’s genuine concernfor “Elena” after she had taken a while to return to their card game. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was growing fond of Marguerite and Alanna and didn’t want to see anything happen to them. But if Grannam was behind the murders, he wouldn’t kill his own daughter. Would he? Jade didn’t want to wait around and find out. She needed to pin these murders on Grannam and get him away from anyone else he might hurt.
Nicolas stopped two steps away from Jade and crossed his arms. “Go tomorrow night. Find whatever you can on Grannam and his assassin. Save the marquess, if you can.”
Jade nodded, noticing the limited space between them. “Tell me whatever you know. I’ll do it.”
She took in a breath with a new thought. If Nicolas allowed her to bring Theo in on this, to help her, she wouldn’t be afraid to tell him what she’d been doing.
“I would be more effective if I had help. I could bring Captain Redman—”
“No.” Nicolas eliminated the space between him in a flash, his growl lethal. He stood toe-to-toe with Jade, his tall, broad frame overwhelming Jade. “Tell himnothing. He isn’t part of this. We don’t need anyone else.”
Jade replied with a weak shake of her head, her eyes wide. “I won’t.”
Nicolas relaxed and stepped back again. He released a heavy exhale, as though he had been prepared to shout at her. When he did speak again, his voice was quiet but still deadly. “I am all you need, Jade.”
Twenty-Two
The Marquess of Carsill andhis family lived farther away from base than Jade usually traveled for her missions, in the region of Salora. With the pause in her assignment, Jade had a free night, which was the perfect time for her to slip away unnoticed.
Though she couldn’t travel the whole way on foot, neither could she take a horse from base, so Nicolas had told her to come by the farmhouse on her way. He was not outside the farmhouse to greet her, but a horse was tied to a tree with an exceptionally long rope, allowed to graze on the overgrown grass and crops in the fields around the house.
Jade found the horse already saddled, contentedly chomping on the leaves of some creeping morsbane growing near the house. She approached the creature and spoke calming words to it before reaching her hand out to its neck. The horse was tame and agreeable, so Jade untied him and hoisted herself into the saddle, then rode off in the direction of the Carsill estate.
Wind whipped at the flyaway hairs around her face, the rest of her locks braided and wrapped around her head in her typical style for missions. She passed few travelers on the road as the sun had now set and most people were settling inside their homes for the night or had already reached their destinations.
Pushing the horse as much as she dared, Jade reached the estate in a little over an hour. She dismounted and led the horse to a creek outside the estate, where she tied him to a tree and gave his sweaty neck a few praising strokes before sneaking off into the woods.
All Nicolas had been able to determine about the killer’s plans for Arthur was that the assassination attempt would be sometime at night. At the very least, Jade hoped she could catch the assassin, but ideally, she could do it before he killed Arthur. She’d had to ask Matherson permission to leave base, since she couldn’t sneak out under the cover of night, but he only granted it to her at the time of their evening meal. Jade had claimed she wanted some time off in Rangerford, the town outside Ivanelli base. When Commander Matherson asked if she wanted someone to accompany her, Jade noticed a twinkle in his eyes.
He hadn’t outright suggested she ask Theo to go with her, but she had no doubt that was what he was thinking.
Truth be told, Jade had still considered asking Theo to go with her, even after the interaction with Nicolas. This was one of the few missions she’d ever done truly alone, no backup. Having Theo there would have been a comfort, but what would she have told him? Everything? She still hadn’t decided if she was ever going to tell Theo about Nicolas and the work she was doing for him. And after the renewed threat from Nicolas, the choice not to say anything to Theo sat a little easier with her. So she’d opted to go alone, hoping Matherson wouldn’t be too upset she didn’t return before curfew.
The nearly full moon shone brightly, casting far more light than Jade was comfortable with. She crept up to the house, staying as close to theshadows as she could, and paused at the edge of the estate’s woods to peer up at the manor.
For this mission, Jade had had to dust off the memory of the house’s floor plan in her mind. She’d surveilled here once before, when the conflict had first started and Arthur had declared himself as vying for the throne. After she had determined he posed no real threat and had no legitimate stake, she had not been sent back. Other intelligence agents were assigned missions here from time to time to ensure nothing had changed, but Jade had been given more important assignments requiring a greater level of skill.
The estate was smaller than some of the others she had snuck around before, as was the manor house, which allowed for a lower chance of error. Jade’s eyes scanned the two lines of windows, recalling what room each one belonged to. Light emitted from three on the first floor and four on the second, from her vantage point. What she remembered to be Arthur’s study on the first floor was one of the three lit rooms, which meant he was likely inside. Hopefully still alive.
Jade sprinted from her hiding spot across the open grass to the back side of the manor. A brick wall with a small wooden door enclosed the yard outside the staff entrance, and Jade stopped on the other side of the wall, listening and catching her breath. No voices, shuffling of feet or fabric, or any other human-made noise came from the yard, so Jade pulled at the door’s handle to slip inside.
The moment she did, the door to the staff entrance flew open and flooded the yard with light. Jade backpedaled, and the door to the yard swung shut.
“Someone there?” called out a female voice.
