As open as Marguerite had been with Jade, she hadn’t told her everything. That much was clear. She knew something about her father that she hadn’t revealed, but Jade wouldn’t push the conversation and raise any questions about herself in Marguerite’s mind.
Maybe if she found out what Arabella had mentioned in that letter to Grannam, what Marguerite said had shifted Arabella’s way of thinking, it could help piece together some of their interactions or even hold clues into Grannam’s next move.
Her time was running out. Jade would be taking matters into her own hands.
And her next stop was Lesseine.
Thirty-One
Rain-slicked streets glistened underthe lamps that shone like lifelines in the dark, overcast night. The gas lamps meant Jade was close now. As she approached the drive to Lesseine, the street was lined with lampposts and had no ruts or divots. The impeccable maintenance of the road here could only be indicative of the nearby estate.
After curfew, Jade had snuck off base and made a detour by the farmhouse to see if the horse Nicolas had provided for her to take to Arthur’s home was still on the land. She’d wandered through overgrown grass and rye and white-petaled firra around the dilapidated barn to eventually discover a small body of water and the horse there, taking a drink. He wasn’t saddled, so Jade poked her head into what was left of the barn in search of tack, and, surprisingly, she found it. Once the creature was ready to go, they rode off toward Lesseine.
Jade hid the horse in a cluster of woods on the other side of the road and down a little way before covering the bottom half of her face with her black mask. She retrieved her grappling hook and unfolded it as she crept down the length of the wall, surveying for a spot to climb. In a swift movement, she flung it up to the wall and it caught, and she hoisted her body up and over. She landed in a shadow on the other side of the wall provided by the trees on the outer rim of the estate—the perfect cover for her to scout out any nearby guards.
The low hum of voices perked Jade’s ears, and she looked to the right, following the sound. Two guards stood about a hundred paces away, deep in conversation. Jade blinked through the shadowy trees for any others at the perimeter but found none, so she snuck off in the opposite direction of the pair of guards, keeping her eyes peeled for more.
With the guards out of earshot, Jade listened out for any other sounds out of place for the late summer night. Crickets chirped a somber melody that matched Jade’s mission. She inhaled the warm, damp air, already smelling of early-morning dew. A night this muggy meant the day would only be hotter still.
Jade slunk through the trees until the house came into view, and she paused in a crouch to examine the massive structure. From this angle, only two dim lights broke through the darkness, coming from rooms on the top floor—no doubt the bedrooms of the last of the staff turning in for the night.
A crunch of a twig shot Jade’s heart to her throat. She dipped behind the closest tree, listening intently.
Slow, heavy footsteps thudded on the hard ground somewhere between her and the house. They didn’t sound as though they approached her, rather skimming through the trees parallel to the manor. Jade held her breath, waiting for the sound to diminish until it was gone entirely.
She had to be on high alert tonight. With the amount of security on the estate, there was no room for error.
With the guard gone, Jade left her hiding place and surveyed the grounds around her. Nothing. In her dark clothes, she was no more than a shadow as she left the cover of the trees under a moonless night.
Another guard rounded the corner of the house as Jade reached it, and she dropped to her stomach, flattening her body against the warm earth. The shorn grass this close to the house would do nothing to conceal her, but she hoped that in her stillness, she would simply blend in.
She cocked her head to the side to keep an eye on the guard as he patrolled past. He was a stone’s throw away, but he kept his face forward as he walked, never turning to peer out over the grounds. Once his back was to Jade, she slid her body up from the ground and bolted to the shrubs bordering the walls of the home, where she could take better cover.
Lesseine was not unfamiliar to her. She had been here many times before on furtive missions, and the best paths to take both on the grounds and in the house were seared into her brain. The additional guards complicated things, but it was nothing Jade couldn’t maneuver around.
No further guards hindered her path to the staff yard at the back of the house. A quick glance past the wall hemming it in showed that the coast was clear, so Jade snuck in the door to the yard.
She didn’t even bother trying the door to the house. It would be locked. It always was after the staff went to bed. Instead, Jade went to the far right window in the staff yard that led to the butler’s pantry. The window did not seal, and the gap between the panes was enough to slip a file into and flick the latch undone. Gripping the wooden casing with her fingertips, Jade pulled the unlatched window open and slipped her body inside the dark room.
The only problem with sneaking into the Fellsrin home through the butler’s pantry was that the room itself was locked, housing the family’s fine silver, porcelain, and crystal. Jade grabbed a set of picks from the pouch on her belt and kneeled before the door, working them in the lock until sheheard it click. She turned the doorknob, pulling slowly and glancing outside for any sign of life beyond.
Nothing stirred in the hallway. Jade stepped out and locked the door back with her picks. The lingering scents of the night’s dinner wafted from the kitchen, making her stomach rumble. The sound was the roaring of a lion in the quiet space. Jade wrapped her arms firmly around her middle, hoping to quell the raging beast. She would not be caught tonight, least of all by a hungry, grumbling stomach.
Jade tiptoed up the stairs from the kitchen and staff rooms, bypassing the main floor. Her goal tonight was Arabella’s suite on the second story.
Of all the rooms in the home where Jade expected to find evidence of what Arabella had discovered, Jade had narrowed it down to three: the sisters’ private morning room, the second-floor library, and Arabella’s bedroom. Jade hoped to avoid the last one if possible, but she also knew it was the best place for Arabella to ensure something was kept safe.
At the landing to the second story, Jade paused and listened. The ticking of a distant clock pierced the silence occasionally, but other than that, the house was still. If there were guards patrolling inside, she’d found no indication of them.
Candles in sconces along the wall flickered here and there, providing a soft light to see by. Like a thief in the night, Jade crept down the carpeted hallway to the first room on her list: the morning room. No light shone from the cracks around the door. Jade pushed it open silently and stepped inside.
After letting her eyes readjust to the darkness, Jade crossed to the large windows, where morning sunlight would stream in, and flung open the curtains. Without light from the moon, the outside world did little to help illuminate the room, but the gas lamps on the home’s exterior provided enough to help Jade find a candle. She lit it with a match from a nearby box and began her search.
The room was neat and orderly, organized exactly to the Fellsrin sisters’ standards. It should make searching for evidence straightforward, but it also meant a greater chance that Jade would leave something out of place.
Plush, comfortable-looking chairs were arranged in a circle around a low table in the center of the room. A cold fireplace took up the middle of one wall, with a painting hanging above it and doors on either side. Low cabinets ran the length of the opposite wall, and near the windows sat two desks with enough room between them for a person to walk.
The desks were as good a place as any to start.
