As they stepped back into the cold night air, Nin’s thoughts churned. The image of Adelina’s perfectly composed face, her pretty smiles concealing her smirks, and her clipped remarks all made sense. Nin was right to trust her gut, yet sadness washed through her like the rain trickling through the streets.
Princess Marianne’s own cousin wished her dead.
“She tried to kill the real princess,” she said as they walked briskly over wet pavement, their boots squelching in murky puddles. “If she knows the assassin failed, she will try again.”
“Perhaps sooner rather than later,” Cedric agreed grimly. “We investigate tonight.”
Chapter twenty-six
Cedric and Nin halted before a door concealed within the shadowy corridor. It opened behind the wall near a golden-framed portrait of the rose gardens below the balcony, and he surveyed the room for any occupants.
No one.
The door slid silently as he closed it behind them, then stepped gingerly over the damask rug into Princess Adelina’s guest quarters. An extinguished chandelier poised above them, the furnace unlit, throwing them into backlit darkness against the moonlight filtering through the gauzy curtains.
Princess Adelina and other foreign dignitaries were likely at dinner and spending the evening being entertained by various performers. It would buy them time, but perhaps not enough.
There was never enough.
The ticking of the pocket watch painfully reminded him of that fact—of the consequences, of failure, and one misstep that could hurt the ones he loved if he couldn’t end this plot once and for all.
“You start on this side,” he said, gesturing right, “and I’ll start on that one,” he pointed to the left side of the room.
“What do you suppose we should look for?” Nin whispered, tiptoeing over the wooden parquet floor. “A note?”
“Yes, anything that will prove her correspondence with the assassin—even a pouch of Silent Breath. Whatever you can find.”
Nin nodded and began with a golden chest of drawers near the vanity. Faint notes of vanilla permeated the air, and Cedric spied a crystal bottle of amber liquid sitting innocently amongst the other vials of cosmetics.
It was just as Pierre said.
Cedric investigated a nightstand, opening a drawer and carefully removing items from their place. A few enclosed letters wrapped in black ribbon sat at the bottom, but none bore the raven wax seal.
“Perhaps hiding beyond sight,” he muttered as he checked behind portraits hanging above the mantle. His fingers slid against the wall for any bumps or cracks that shouldn’t be there. As he searched, a thought gnawed at the back of his mind, begging for attention from the moment Pierre had confessed his part in this terrible plot.
Why would Princess Adelina use her own seal to mark her messages?
Nin crouched onto her haunches, her fingers tracing the vanity’s base. “Wait,” she breathed. “There’s something here that’s loose.”
Cedric was at her side in three strides, kneeling beside her. She pried up a wooden floor panel with her fingernails, revealinga compartment filled with folded parchment. She plucked one out and presented a silver raven seal on the envelope, her eyes widening.
“Could this be?” she asked.
Before he could respond, the door flew open. Light from the hall spilled into the room and onto his back. He tugged on Nin’s arm too late.
“What is the meaning of all this?”
Princess Adelina stood at the threshold, her white and gold gown shimmering against the moonlight. Every plane on her face hardened into ice.
Cedric shot to his feet. “Your Highness—”
“How dare you rummage through my rooms like thieves?” she snapped, her eyes blazing in the darkness like twin green flames. “Is this how a captain conducts himself? The impudence!”
Cedric stepped in front of Nin, positioning himself between the two women. Her cap sat slightly askew, revealing a flash of tarnished gold hair. He fought down his rising panic, forcing himself to concentrate on the princess marching toward them and praying she wouldn’t notice the glimpse of blonde hair beneath Nin’s hat.
Adelina folded her arms across her chest, peering down her nose. “Explain yourself at once, Captain.”
Cedric straightened, refusing to cower before her condescending glare. “We have reason to believe, Princess, that you are in correspondence with a plot to murder Her Highness, Princess Marianne. A servant claimed your seal wason the orders.”
