“I don’t.”
All eyes latched onto the younger sister. As the more reserved of the two, the times she spoke commanded rapt attention.
“Who do you think it was?” Theo asked with a note of genuine curiosity in his voice.
Alanna’s focus turned to Arabella again. “You know I told you I saw a man I thought I recognized at Marguerite’s masquerade ball, but I couldn’t place him?”
“Yes . . . ”Arabella drew out the word, her eyebrows pulled close together.
“I recently realized who he reminded me of.”
A soft knock at the door cut through the tension in the air, followed by the entrance of a footman carrying a silver tray. All four of the room’s occupants fell silent and looked up at his arrival.
“Oh, finally,” Arabella exclaimed in her usual stately manner. “What took so long? Did the oven break? Or is this just how things are run around here?”
The footman lowered the tray and took individual plates with two cakes each and set them in front of each person. Jade gave a soft word of thanks as hers was placed in front of her, but her brow wrinkled in confusion. Offering the cakes already plated seemed odd. But neither Arabella nor Alanna said anything, so that must have been a typical serving style for the royal family.
Once the footman left the room, Alanna retrieved the plate in front of her and set it in her lap, her fingers tracing the edge of one of her cakes. Jadeinstantly remembered them as the cakes Marguerite fawned over that many of the royal cousins had eaten as children.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” Alanna said, almost as if in a dream. Her eyes were fixed on the cake but seemed to see nothing. She was lost in memory. “I told Father, but he didn’t believe me. He said he doesn’t believe in ghosts.”
“A ghost? You think you saw a ghost at the masquerade?” Arabella questioned, her eyes narrowed. Alanna, apparently unperturbed by her sister’s reaction, lifted a cake to her lips and took a bite.
“It wasn’t a ghost,” Alanna replied, lifting her eyes to the group again, “but I never thought I’d see him again. It makes sense, if you think about it. He would want—”
A hard cough erupted from Alanna’s throat, followed by another, harsh and involuntary. She picked up her tea to sip, but she was already wheezing and couldn’t get it down, leaving it to spill down the front of her dress.
“Alanna!” Arabella shouted, jumping to her feet as her sister slumped out of her chair. Jade and Theo were moving too, but Jade already had the worst sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Alanna!” Arabella cried again as Alanna started to convulse. Her gaze shot to Theo and Jade. “Help her!”
Cotton filled Jade’s mouth as she and Theo lifted Alanna and moved her to an open spot on the rug away from the chairs and table.
“Alanna!” Arabella continued to wail, crouching down by her sister as her body seized and jerked.
Jade’s limbs froze where she kneeled beside Alanna. An innocent bystander in all this mess. Her body convulsed until it went rigid. Arabella screamed, grasping Alanna’s motionless hands.
Jade had failed again. This time, the direct consequences were too personal. It broke her heart. She rocked back on her heels, casting a helpless glance up at Theo. He mirrored her expression, his hands held uselessly outin front of him. Jade turned back to Alanna, and her eyes burned as she watched the stiffness leave Alanna’s limbs and the light fade from her eyes.
Arabella’s earth-shattering screams had brought in footmen and maids along with some of the Venemer personal guards who had been stationed inside the castle. Jade leaned forward as Arabella clutched Alanna’s body to her chest. They had seconds before the guards would take over.
“Who was she talking about, Arabella?” Jade nearly shouted over Arabella’s cries. “Who was Alanna talking about?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know!” Tears streaked down Arabella’s face as she rocked back and forth, cradling her dead sister. “I don’t know!”
Even if Arabella might have been able to figure out who Alanna had suspected, shock and grief were too heavy in her heart for her to give them any useful information then and there.
Jade and Theo stood as the guards rushed over to them, calling for the staff to send for a doctor. But it was too late. The guards attempted to take Alanna from Arabella, but she lashed out at anyone who came too close. Jade’s heart seized as her gaze landed on Alanna’s still-open eyes and the telltale green hue that tinted them.
Alanna had died by rienevoir poisoning. Which meant the killer was still out there, and he wasn’t finished.
Forty-One
Jade rushed through the maze-like hallways of Castle Venemer, following Theo’s lead back to Devereaux’s office. If news of Alanna’s death hadn’t already made it to her, someone needed to deliver it at once.
“I knew something wasn’t right. Iknewit.” Jade’s legs had to take an extra step for each of Theo’s long strides to keep up with them. “Something wasn’t adding up with Marchand. And now he’s another innocent man added to the death toll.”
“Nothing has proven Marchand was innocent,” Theo pointed out, throwing his head over his shoulder for a moment. “He may still have been involved. We already determined that the mastermind behind the murders had hired an assassin. Maybe Marchand had ordered Alanna’s death already and the assassin had yet to carry it out.”
