Some of Theo’s fury seemed to abate as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. Only anguish remained. “I thought there was something special between us. I thought—” Theo choked on his next words. “I thought we had a future.”
“Oh, Theo—”
“But I want you to be happy. And if he is who you want—”
“No, he’s not.” Jade jumped up from the bed and strode to Theo, stopping right in front of him. Her eyes searched his, and she tentatively lifted her hands to his face. Theo didn’t pull away when she rested them on either side of his jaw. “Youare. I loveyou. I want that future with you, if you can forgive me.”
The lines of Theo’s face softened before his eyelids fluttered closed and he dipped his head to lean his forehead against Jade’s. They stood there in silence for a moment, breathing the same air, before Theo’s arms woundaround Jade’s waist. He pulled her close to him, tipping his chin to place a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Of course I do.”
Jade’s hands dropped from his face to meet behind his neck, a sense of relief overwhelming her. She hadn’t lost him.She hadn’t lost him.
“You shouldn’t go back to him,” Theo murmured as his lips left hers.
Jade angled her head up to look him in the eyes. “But I might have to.”
“Then don’t go without me. Please.” Theo didn’t hide the desperation in his voice. “I don’t trust him. I don’t know what he stands to gain out of all this.”
He’d made a fair point. A few of them, actually. Jade sighed and nodded. “Okay.”
Theo tugged Jade into an embrace, dipping his face to where her shoulder met her neck. Jade melted into him, allowing his arms to shield her from everything surrounding her—Nicolas, the conflict, and even her own expectations for herself. None of it mattered here, in this fleeting moment. She nestled into the cocoon, protected from the outside world. Theo’s scent flooded her senses, setting her at ease. Jade squeezed her eyes shut, surprised to find a slight wetness brimming against her eyelashes. She was safe with Theo. She was home.
A rap at Jade’s door raised both of their heads. It was quick and sharp, unlike Theo’s repetitive pounding from earlier. A voice called from the other side of the door.
“Captain Ni’ihm, are you present?”
Jade placed the voice as that of Trooper Haan. She untangled herself from Theo’s embrace and crossed to the door, making herself as captain-like as she could with her messy hair and wearing nothing but an undershirt and her espionage uniform pants.
“Yes, Trooper, what is it?” Jade asked as she opened the door.
Trooper Haan’s eyes remained on Jade for only a second before she noticed Theo beside the bed, her gaze extending past Jade’s shoulder. Shegave nothing away of her thoughts of the scene, which gave a starkly different impression than the reality. “Commander Matherson has requested you both at once. It’s extremely urgent.”
Jade thanked the trooper before shutting the door and flinging her gaze back at Theo, her brows drawn low over her eyes.
“No, this has got to be something new,” he answered her unspoken question. “Let’s go.”
Jade threw on her ripped and bloodied jacket—she’d be telling Matherson all about it, anyway—and she and Theo all but jogged to Command. Jade’s heart was in her throat as they covered the distance across base. Had they found out about Nicolas? Did Matherson already know what Jade had been doing the past few weeks?
Theo knocked quickly at Matherson’s door before hearing the call to enter. He and Jade had barely gotten in the office before Matherson told them to shut the door and sit down. The telephone on his desk rang, but he didn’t answer. Papers were strewn about the desk’s surface in an apparent disarray. He didn’t take a seat, bringing his gaze up to them from where he leaned over his desk. Tight lines creased his forehead, and a grimness had settled over his mouth.
“The Duke of Evenshold is dead.”
Thirty-Five
Jade had to remind herselfto breathe. She struggled to take in air as though she’d fallen flat on her back and expelled it all from her lungs.
Surely she’d misheard Matherson. What he’d said didn’t register in her mind.
Grannam is dead?
Those three words threw what she knew of this conflict out the window. Her entire perception of Grannam as the mastermind behind the murders shattered with the news of his death.
Unless someone else had found out and had gotten to him first.
Nicolas. . .
Jade’s throat closed up as her heart constricted. Could this be how Nicolas was going to take care of Grannam? No, he wouldn’t. He and Jade were working together, toward the same goal. He wanted the contenders removed from power to help make the way for Prince Reynauldto take the throne, just like her. He wouldn’t take it upon himself to kill Grannam in order to keep him from vying for the throne. Jade didn’t know much about Nicolas, but he’d given her no reason to believe he was a killer. Besides, he’d been with her last night.
