But if that was the case, it meant the military had missed something big from the time. Missed, or locked down. Could there be a crate in these archives with information that connected the dots?
Jade replaced the paper in its file, preparing to return it to the crate and back to the shelf, but something else at the top of the slip caught her eye. The order was made by “Sir Robert Marchand.” No other title. Jade flipped through the next few until she found one for Lord Marchand, the Earl of Southbury. Three months later.
Her mouth went dry. The timing of Marchand receiving his earldom couldn’t have been a coincidence.
Eleven years ago.
Jade had a hunch, but she couldn’t be certain until she checked the date. She put the crate of evidence in its place on the shelf and found her way to a section of meeting notes. Going back in the records eleven years, she pulled down a box to start her search.
Was that really eleven years ago?
She would have been thirteen. That seemed about right. Her mother was still alive at the time.
Jade’s heart ramped up to a full hammering as her trembling fingers rifled through the pages of notes. Her eyes sought keywords associated with the event, finally landing on something that might be useful. She scannedover the notes from a meeting headed by, at the time, Commander Devereaux.
The death of both the queen and the prince is truly a tragedy, one that this kingdom will not soon heal from. Our king has not only lost his beloved wife and son, he now has no heir. Prince Artis was well into his training to one day rule our kingdom, and it was already clear he would make an excellent king when the time came. Instead, our country now lacks both its future king and its direction. This loss of security will undoubtedly spell an unstable time in our kingdom. It is up to us now more than ever to assure the citizens of Marran that the kingdom is secure, stable, and safe.
In my time working with the king, along with the queen and prince, I have grown close with them and know our king is strong and resilient. He will make it through this, in time. I pledge myself to work with him in these next uncertain weeks and months as the royal family navigates this tragedy and looks toward an unknown future.
We will announce the date and time of the funeral as soon as we are made aware of the arrangements. Remains of both the queen and prince were recovered from the fire, so they can be properly laid to rest in the family tomb. All active duty officers will be required to attend.
Jade skimmed over the rest of the notes, but she’d already read what was most important. Eleven years ago, Queen Cosette and Prince Artis had perished in a fire at their country home while on holiday. King Mervyn had been too occupied with his duties as king to go with them, and a good thing too, or else he might have been lost to the fire also.
Even with the confirmation that the tragedy had occurred eleven years ago, Jade had trouble connecting it to Reynauld or Marchand. Arabella had written that her father had been responsible for something eleven years ago. Responsible for what? The fire?
Jade’s heart jumped for only a moment at the possibility that Reynauld might have been involved, but she brushed off the idea as quickly as it had come. The two prevailing theories were that the fire was either an accidentor was set by a group of magic-wielders trying to end the king’s line. Jade knew from her studies that Reynauld had in fact been touring a new military base at the time. In fact, he’d learned of the fire and the deaths of his brother’s wife and son while on base.
So what had he been responsible for, then? Something to do with their memorial? Had he been involved in recovering or identifying their bodies and had mishandled the situation? Perhaps he had suggested Mervyn stay behind at the castle, and Arabella believed that if the king had gone, the fire would have been prevented or the queen and prince would have been saved.
Most likely, Reynauld had been responsible for something that had occurred surrounding the events after the fact. Jade prepared herself to dig through crates of notes until she found what Arabella had been referring to, confident that the military had some record of it.
She heaved the box off the shelf and set it on the floor with a dull thud but stopped before she pulled out her first stack of papers. What did any of this have to do with Marchand? He’d purchased firra and morsbane eleven years ago, but how was that connected to the fire? Jade shook her head. It probably wasn’t. But, she realized, itwaslikely related to whatever Reynauld had done.
The distant creak of the hinges on the door to the archives room carried through to where she sat. Someone had come in. Jade hoisted the crate back on the shelf as a voice called out.
“Jade?”
An automatic smile appeared on her face at the recognition of Theo’s voice. “Back here!” she called, winding through the rows of shelves toward the door. She rounded a corner and ran right into Theo. He grabbed her by her waist to steady her as her feet took a couple of reactionary steps backward.
With her hands pressed against his biceps, Jade relaxed. “I was just looking through the archives—” She brought her eyes up, cutting herself off when she noticed the tension in his face. “What is it?”
“Devereaux has called a meeting at the castle. We’ve been requested.” The way his jaw ticked gave away his stress. “For an extended stay.”
Jade shut her mouth and swallowed. When she spoke, her voice was low and gritty. “Well that’s not good.”
Theo shook his head. “No, it’s not.” He released her waist, taking one of her hands and giving it a quick squeeze. “I was sent to retrieve you. I’ve already packed a few things for you and loaded them in the cargo wagon. Come on.”
“Wait, Theo.” Jade tugged him back with the hand he held as he started to walk away. “I’ve been thinking a lot in here, and there’s still some missing pieces I’m trying to fit together.”
“Let’s talk on the way,” he said with a slight smile, cracking his grim expression, and he pulled her after him a couple of steps before dropping her hand.
Jade walked close beside Theo as they left the basement and ascended the stairs in Command. A convoy of carriages waited outside, ready to leave. Theo led Jade to one, greeting the driver before opening the door and allowing Jade to climb in before him.
Once the convoy started moving, Jade recounted what she’d learned. She filled Theo in on the most recent things she had noticed about Marchand and Reynauld, that whatever they had done was around the same time as the fire that killed the prince and queen. She insisted there was something still behind all of this that they were missing.
“But does it matter now?” he asked after Jade had said her piece. “We found evidence tying the murders to Marchand, and now he’s dead. There’s not even anyone left to vie for the throne. It’s all over.”
The carriage jostled back and forth as Jade considered his point. But the more she thought about it, the more her stomach knotted. She shook her head and stared out the window. Dark clouds gathered in the distance, filling the sky in the direction they were going. “Maybe, but I can’t help but feel like we’ve missed something important.”
