The ambassador and the princess snapped their attention to him. Adelina’s eyes turned into slits.
“Unlike your sloppy investigation,” she said, sweeping a hand toward her open floorboard. “I sensed my cousin was not herself. Something had changed. I wanted to know the truth. She never deserved Rodrigue—and she certainly didn’t if she was going to act like a fraud.”
Cedric stiffened.
He knew they were watching his every move and every hint of emotion that could give him away. Fortunately, the princess shifted her focus to her ambassador.
“But you also insisted I watch her closely,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“And you did,” Otto agreed mildly. “You listened and pushed exactly when I advised you to.”
“Then why are the allegations pointed at me?” Adelina screeched.
Silence fell.
The pieces fell into place. Adelina’s suspicion. The planted notes. The trail that led only to her—
Never to the man pulling the strings.
“You needed a scapegoat,” he said, fixing Otto with a glare.
The ambassador sighed as though the conversation had grown tedious. “What an indelicate word. Whatever you are accusing me of is too ambiguous for someone of your status, Captain.”
“Then let me speak more plainly,” Cedric said, taking a step forward. Otto didn’t move as Cedric closed the distance between them.
“This paper is proof enough,” he said, dangling the letter between them. “You used Princess Adelina as a pawn to cover your attempt to assassinate Princess Marianne.”
An uneasy hush settled over the room. No one moved. No one dared to breathe. Thunder boomed, rattling the windows.
Otto regarded the letter with little interest before he peered up at Cedric witha faint smirk.
“A pawn?” Otto echoed. “That would imply she wasn’t already in motion.”
Adelina’s breath hitched, and Nin brushed the back of Cedric’s coat as if to steady herself.
“Jealousy is easily malleable. A little lie here… a little lie there…” Otto’s eyes flicked to Adelina.
“You already suspected your cousin. I merely gave it shape.”
Adelina’s hands clenched at her side. “How dare you! You told me I was protecting her!”
Otto's expression turned cold.
“You were protecting your interests,” he said. “Do not pretend otherwise.”
Cedric’s pulse pounded in his ears as he clenched the letter.
“Are you confessing, Ambassador?” Cedric asked, taking a step closer and unsheathing his sword.
The blade gleamed in the silvery moonlight. Its point sharpened toward the ambassador.
“Only to setting up the board,” Otto said, glancing at the sword with an unimpressed frown. “What followed was inevitable.”
Otto reached into his pocket, and Cedric moved too late. The ambassador hurled a small glass vial onto the floor. It shattered, releasing a cloud of acrid gray smoke.
Chapter twenty-seven
The thick fumes burned Nin’s eyes and throat, but she pushed forward despite the pain.
