“That’s better,” Theo said, his smile still curling his lips and a humorous gleam shining in his eyes. He sobered as he added, “So, you found both?”
Jade nodded. “Yeah. I’m surprised they weren’t found in our initial investigation.”
“Unless Marchand knew the military was coming and hid them somewhere,” Theo suggested. “He had no idea we were coming this time.”
“Still,” Jade mused. Something about it didn’t sit quite right with her. “I imagine he would have tried to hide them better than that.”
Theo angled his head toward Jade with a grin. “I think you’re just discounting how good you are at your job.”
Jade smiled at the compliment, but it didn’t settle her. Normally, she would have gladly accepted the praise and moved on, but the plants hadn’t been exceptionally difficult to find, and it didn’t make sense.
They fell silent as they rolled through the opening gate, giving polite nods to the gatekeeper as they left the grounds. Following Jade’s suggestion, Theo turned the horses to the right. It would take longer to get back to base this way, but as long as they made it back, it didn’t matter. They had done it.
The military would be able to accuse Lord Marchand of organizing the murders of all those connected to the Conflict of Succession who had been poisoned with rienevoir. With Lord Grannam dead, nothing else stood in the way of Prince Reynauld taking his rightful place on the throne following the death of his brother. Only some new push from Arabella might interfere, but she’d been quiet recently. It didn’t make sense to Jade, not when Arabella was so close to the throne. Something must have changed, but Jadehad no idea what it was.
Nicolas had asked Jade to gather information on Arabella, and she hadn’t. Her stomach squirmed as she thought back to Nicolas, to the moment in the Fellsrin home when he had saved her...and what had followed. She closed her eyes to banish the thoughts from her mind.
But they didn’t leave completely. Had Nicolas ever suspected Marchand? What would he do with the evidence she had found?
Those questions didn’t matter. Jade was taking the evidence to Commander Matherson, and the military would take formal action. The better question was: How would Nicolas react to finding out she had chosen tonotbring it to him?
Thirty-Seven
A trumpet blared a slow,solemn tune as the casket was lowered into the ground in the Evenshold family burial plot. A small crowd circled the pit, all clad in black. Jade noticed Marguerite at the front, her arm looped through her sister’s as she sobbed quietly into a handkerchief.
Jade’s heart crumpled at the sight. Lord Grannam may not have been a totally upstanding person, but he was a beloved father and husband. Marguerite didn’t deserve the pain and heartbreak that came along with burying her father earlier than she should have, and in such a manner. As Jade lingered in the shadows of a gazebo not far from the burial grounds, she hurt for the woman she had grown close to, false identity or not. The normally bubbly, cheerful, radiant Marguerite had transformed into someone unrecognizable, pale and quiet and miserable. Her distress pierced Jade’s heart.
The crowd began to disperse as the caretakers shoveled dirt over the top of the casket. Marguerite remained with Sylvie, their mother blotting her nose nearby. Phillipe, the new Duke of Evenshold, stood on their mother’s other side and clutched his wife, his head bowed in respect.
No one paid any attention to the small gathering of military personnel in the gazebo. Their presence had been explained as a safety precaution for those members of the royal family in attendance, which of course wasn’t true. At the reception following the memorial service, Grand General Devereaux and Commander Matherson would confront Lord Marchand in front of everyone.
Jade wasn’t required to be here. In fact, considering how close she had become to members of the royal family while undercover, she probably shouldn’t have been here in order to maintain the confidentiality of her identity.
But she had requested of Grand General Devereaux that she and Theo be in attendance with the desire to see the assignment through to the end. And because of how instrumental Jade had been in bringing about this conclusion, Devereaux had granted her request.
With the suspect behind the murders identified and the only remaining contenders in the Conflict of Succession being those in the true line, Jade’s assignment had come to an end, which meant Lady Elena Tavigne was no more. Jade wished she could have gone to Marguerite with comfort, but she wasn’t here as Elena and she still had to keep her identity as an intelligence agent secret.
The military officers and troopers remained in the gazebo until the last of the family departed the gravesite, then followed them at a distance toward Evenshold Palace. Grand General Devereaux led the way with Matherson and two other troopers, with Theo and Jade hanging behind.
“Any idea what’s next for you?” Theo asked in a murmur, keeping his voice low enough for only Jade to hear. “I mean, Matherson still hasn’t given you a punishment yet.”
Jade sighed. “I know. Things are too critical right now. I’m low on his list of priorities, which isn’t a bad thing.” She shrugged, a half-smile tugging at her lips as she stared at the back of Matherson’s head before her. “It’d be nice if he got so busy he forgot about it, but I doubt that’ll happen. That man’s memory is a steel trap.”
“Maybe it won’t be too bad. He might remove you from active duty for a while, but that wouldn’t be the worst thing.” Theo nudged Jade’s shoulder with his own. “You could use a holiday.”
She chuckled once, an ironic sound. “I doubt his definition of time off would equal a holiday.”
They quieted as the group strode inside Evenshold Palace, following the family to the ballroom. While a sitting room or parlor might have been more intimate a place for such a gathering, the number of extended royal family members in attendance would have made the room cramped. So the Evensholds had opted to set up a reception in the ballroom, complete with staff carrying refreshments and chairs for the weary to rest in.
Jade’s stomach clenched as she stepped foot in the ballroom, and with Theo at her side, no less. The last time she had been in this room, she had met Nicolas for the first time. Danced with him. The melody of the orchestra rushed back to her mind, as did the grasp of Nicolas’s hand on her waist and the closeness of his body as he pushed her around the dance floor. A gasp hitched in Jade’s throat at the thought, and she suppressed a shiver.
Theo must have caught the gasp because he glanced over at her. “You okay?”
Jade nodded quickly, brushing off Theo’s concern. “Just caught a draft.”
He eyed her, likely not falling for her bluff. The ballroom was stuffy, if anything, between the bodies and the summer heat. But Jade dipped her head toward the back of the room opposite Devereaux and Matherson, where she and Theo were to take their positions with the other two troopers.
Jade cast a glance at Marguerite as she passed her sitting in a chair, her face in her hands. Her heart broke for Marguerite all over again. Jade knew the pain of losing a parent—both of them, in fact. Even though she’d been six years old at the time of her father’s death, the pain of his loss had never left her, creating a scar on her heart that she’d carried into adulthood. And then losing her mother at fourteen...the wounds still cut deep, even now.
