“They have the most to gain and the most to lose.” He leaned toward her across the desk, his voice low and serious. “They have enough money and power to hire someone dangerous to get rid of any threat. I think it’s worth you infiltrating their circles to learn who is hiding things, and what.”
Matherson was right. She knew well enough the duplicitous facades that came with the aristocracy, and the royal family wasn’t exempt from that. In fact, because of their status, they might bemorewilling to take drastic measures, thinking they would get away with it.
That familiar irritation with the nobility as a whole rose in Jade like a wave of fire. She’d learned long ago how self-centered and cruel those in the aristocracy could be. Her own father and mother had been victims of the heartlessness of the elite.
The sooner this feud over the succession came to an end, the sooner she could get back to military operations that didn’t center around the royal family and nobility.
Matherson sat back in his chair, his demeanor returning to its normal state. “I’m sending you to Lesseine next. Lady Arabella has fallen quiet recently as controversy mounts regarding her proposal to eliminate the magic-wielder execution law, and we have no new information on her plans. The Fellsrins are hosting some of the extended royal family for dinner the night after tomorrow, which means they’ll be taking on some additional staff to prepare. It will give you an opportunity to blend in and get close.”
“Yes, sir.” Jade relaxed, the tension leading up to this briefing melting away and sending relief through her muscles. This mission would be easy, a nice break from the pressures of tracking a killer. Get information and try not to stand out. Her specialty.
“Excellent. You know, Ni’ihm, Grand General Devereaux has her eye on your career. She’s especially impressed with the work you have done during this conflict and how it’s allowed her battalion within the castle to function so smoothly.” A corner of Matherson’s lip twitched, the only evidence of a hidden smile. “Her trajectory when she was younger was similar to yours, and I believe she sees the same potential for greatness in you.”
Jade couldn’t resist the small smile that formed, but she quickly evened it back out. To be noticed by Grand General Devereaux—the woman not only in the highest position of the military but also one of the closest confidants of the king—was high praise. With the grand general championing her, Jade was no doubt on her way up the ranks. She’d be the one calling the shots before she knew it.
The brief glimmer in Matherson’s eyes wordlessly displayed his pride in her, but he pressed on. “Our killer tends to lie low for a few days after a kill, so I will try to reconvene with leadership soon and see what next steps we need to take there. With the likelihood of him being a hired assassin, we will restructure our perspective. Unfortunately, a band of sorcerer and sorceress insurgents has been giving us quite a bit of trouble lately, so any meeting on this matter might be delayed.” Matherson stood, and Jade followed suit, a familiar wave of irritation at the military’s inability to move quickly washingover her. “We’ll discuss the details of your upcoming assignment during our regular meeting time tomorrow. Dismissed.”
Jade saluted again and exited her commander’s office and exhaled. That had gone much better than she had expected. She’d felt certain Matherson would have reprimanded her for disobeying orders, but the man’s faith in her instincts and abilities had prevailed. Jade just wasn’t sure she had deserved it.
A bright, hot morning sun warmed Jade’s face as she turned it up to the sky after leaving Command. Her golden brown skin soaked in the comforting rays, and confidence poured into her. The assignment at Lesseine, the home of the Fellsrin family, would be a good way to get back on track.
Three
The carriage rolled to astop on the stone drive, and the driver hopped down to open the door as a stable hand ran to retrieve the horses. Lady Arabella of Fellsrin and her sister, Lady Alanna, home from an afternoon out, stepped out of the carriage, each taking the offered hand of the driver on their way down.
The evensong of birds and bugs filled the late summer night, occasional flashes of fireflies punctuating the dimness. The women laughed as they approached the house, their hair unraveling and their cheeks pink after a full day in the heat.
Dusk had begun to settle over Lesseine, and the creeping shadows offered more freedom. Clothed in the plain gray dress of a maid with her hair pinned back in a low bun, Jade watched from a crack in the wall concealing the staff entrance as the women disappeared inside. She whirled on her heel and departed the shadows of the alcove. In the yard outside the staffentrance, she dipped below laundry lines with drying clothes and dodged stacks of crates on her way to the door.
Keeping her head low, Jade opened the door without hesitation, as though she was exactly where she was supposed to be. The event tonight not only kept all the workers thoroughly occupied, but it also allowed a greater chance for her to blend in, as more than the usual staff of Lesseine was present.
From a supply room just inside the door, Jade grabbed a duster and a cloth, then she passed through the staff area downstairs, keeping her pace quick. The space bustled with so much activity as the staff prepared dinner that no one seemed to notice she didn’t belong.
She glided up a flight of stairs and hung a right to head to the family’s suites. The girls would be changing and preparing for the evening meal. Doors lined the wide hallway on either side, with rich oil portraits of various family members hung between. Jade’s eyes snagged on one of the king with his late wife and son. What had happened to the queen and prince was tragic, whether it was a true accident or a plot by magic-wielders to end the king’s line. The young prince Artis, likely around age five or six in the painting, smiled in a way that matched his mother, while the king stood serenely with a hand on his son’s shoulder.
A low male voice sounded to Jade’s left, coming from the general direction of the prince’s rooms and propelling her forward. She immediately recognized it as that of Prince Reynauld, Arabella and Alanna’s father and heir to the throne of Marran as the king’s brother. The one Jade was duty-bound to protect.
Jade flashed her eyes around the hallway and found no one present. The voice faded as she crept through the manor and came to the narrower corridors of the suites, the slippers of the maid’s uniform nearly silent on the padded carpet. The floorplan of Lesseine was burned into her brain. Finding her way through was as easy as traveling through her home military base of Ivanelli.
Rounding another corner, Jade heard muffled female voices coming from up ahead, and she counted three doors down on the right. The door to the sitting room that connected Arabella’s and Alanna’s chambers.
Based on the volume of the chatter, the sisters were in the first room she passed—Alanna’s bedroom—so Jade should have no trouble slipping into the sitting room undetected. Her hand met the round golden knob, and she turned it, pushing the heavy white door open into the dimly lit space.
A fireplace sat cold on the wall opposite her in between two tall windows. She passed a low coffee table in the middle of two pale pink sofas that faced each other and glanced out of one of the windows. The sun had fallen behind low-hanging clouds, and the pinky-purple twilight lingering on the western horizon would soon fade into darkness. Her pickup was in thirty minutes, right before the dinner guests would arrive. She had to hurry.
A door stood slightly ajar to Jade’s right. She tucked stray hairs into her bun and straightened her shoulders before sauntering into the next room.
Alanna’s dressing room was markedly less pristine than the sitting room while still clean and extravagant. The wardrobe door hung open with dresses draped over it. A silk chemise had nearly fallen from the seat of a chair, and the vanity top was covered in pins, ribbons, ties, brushes, and cosmetics. An open jewelry box sat alone on another small table beside a tall chest of drawers, the gemstones sparkling in the light of the electric lamps situated around the room.
The Fellsrin sisters spoke with enthusiasm in the room beyond another open door as paper crinkled, no doubt going through their purchases from earlier that day. Jade grabbed the chemise out of the chair and flung it over her arm, a guise of tidying the room ready in case the ladies entered faster than she anticipated. She fit herself between the door and chair, remaining silent and out of sight, unable to peer into the room. About ten minutes were all she’d be granted before the sisters’ ladies’ maids showed up to help themdress for dinner.
“That color is stunning on you, Bella. It brings out the hints of gold in your eyes.” Alanna’s airy voice floated out the door.
A low chuckle followed, and Jade recognized Arabella’s deeper tone. “Fit for a queen, don’t you think?”
“You absolutely must wear it to the ball.”
Ah, yes.The Duke of Evenshold was holding a masquerade ball the upcoming weekend as a birthday celebration for his oldest daughter, Marguerite. Nobility from all over their kingdom had been invited to attend as a show of goodwill, a message to the world that the duke, Lord Grannam, would be a venerable ruler, if not a lavish one.
