Theo released his grasp on her hand, eyes wide. “You did? Was it the assassin?”
“I’m almost positive it was. But now I’m wondering if it’s not Grannam’s associate.”
“Why not?”
“When I left to trail Grannam, I followed him to a room where I heard him talking with the same man who had been in the war room with him the night of the dinner party. I caught a glimpse of that man, and he wasn’t wearing a cloak. And they were still talking when I left. I’m not sure he could have made it over here that quickly.”
A silent beat passed between them. “The assassin could still be someone hired by Grannam. Maybe he has a few people to do his dirty work.”
Jade nodded, pensive. She tried to think back to everything she knew about the assassin. There was nothing solid to indicate he was this other man except for Jade’s own suspicion.
Theo reached for a bar above his head and pulled himself to his feet, and Jade rose with him. “Did he kill someone? I heard the screams, but I couldn’t tell anything about what was going on.”
“A man fell. I’m not sure who or from where, but he landed in the audience.” Jade swallowed, recalling the image of the body on the floor in her mind’s eye, and with it returned her fear for Theo’s safety. “He’s dead.”
“Another deathandthe assassin was here?” Theo frowned. “That’s not just bad luck.”
“No, it’s not. But I’m sure that’s what the death will be attributed to. Some constables were pulled from the street and sent everyone in the audience away.” Jade led the way across the rigging, coming to the spot where she’d last seen a glimpse of the assassin. “I saw the assassin over here, but I imagine his trail has gone cold by now.”
Theo passed her on the platform and then lowered his body to peer at the boards more closely. “No indication of the path he took. He could be anywhere by now.”
“I guess that’s it, then,” Jade admitted with a sigh. “He most likely did what he came to do and won’t be making any other appearances here.”
The sting of defeat struck Jade to her core. How many times would she fail? She couldn’t catch this assassin, she couldn’t stop his kills...Hell, she couldn’t even watch Theo’s back. Her only recent successes had been the result of Nicolas’s leads. Was she truly only as good as the information he gave her? Perhaps the talented Captain Jade Ni’ihm wasn’t that impressive on her own after all.
“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing more to gain,” Theo said with a tilt of his head in the direction of the curtain. “It sounds like there’re still people down there—probably those constables. We should go listen to what they’re saying.”
A nod from Jade spurred Theo onward, and he descended the ladder to the level of the stage. He took slow, quiet steps toward the curtain, taking advantage of the shroud of shadow behind it as he and Jade scanned the wings for any signs of someone lingering. Finding no one, they crouched behind the curtain, careful to keep from pushing it either with physical contact or with the close movement of their bodies.
Through the thick fabric, Jade could barely make out the low murmur of the constables’ speech, but she managed to pick up enough to be helpful.
“ . . . horrible accident . . . ”
“ . . . fell from his box . . . third level . . . ”
“Lord Martin of Waterstone.”
“His wife says . . . into a daze . . . toppled over . . . ”
“ . . . no known conditions . . . ”
Jade caught Theo’s gaze in the dim light of the wings. “Lord Martin is one of the lesser contenders for the throne.”
Theo nodded, clearly already thinking the same thing. “And with the assassin here, it’s definitely not an accident.”
“But there was no food or drink, nothing for the poison to go into.”
Theo shrugged. “Maybe the killer got it to him another way.”
It didn’t make sense. Rienevoir had to be combined in proper ratios and administered in a strong enough dose to affect a person. Without anything for Lord Martin to consume, Jade had no reason to believe rienevoir had done him in.
But the assassin hadn’t strayed from the use of the poison before. What would prompt the use of alternative tactics?
And what were they?
The constables spoke again. “Nothing happened . . . just leaned forward . . . ”
Alarm bells went off in Jade’s mind.He just leaned forward. He went into a daze and toppled over.That was essentially how the king murdered by a sorcerer had died over fifty years before. He had fallen off a castle balcony, supposedly of his own accord.
