“Not sure yet.”
“Need a sounding board again?” he asked with a smile. He opened his arms wide. “I’m available.”
She shook her head and repeated, “Not sure yet.”
His arms dropped, but his smile didn’t disappear. “Okay.”
What am I going to do?
Madelaine felt backed into a corner. She needed a minute to process and walked back and forth before a patient Jack as he waited for her to explain.
Was it right to bring Jack along on a dangerous mission because she didn’t want to marry some trusted stranger the Paladin Cabal had set up for her? Maybe. Maybe not.
She needed to talk to someone who wasn’t involved in the journey. If she asked Jack what she should do, he’d likely volunteer to be her husband before she finished one sentence.At least shehopedhe would. Maybe she didn’t want to find out that he would never marry her no matter what the stakes or circumstances were because of what she’d done to him.
That would hurt a lot.
And then she remembered the flip-phone forced on her by the Secret Keeper, in case she wanted guidance. Until this moment, she hadn’t planned to use that flip-phone.
He’d known she would need guidance. He must have known.
She stopped pacing and faced Jack. “I need to call the Secret Keeper,” she said excitedly.
Now that whole phone business in Suspicion made sense.
Jack tilted his head to one side. “You can do that? You can just call him up?”
She nodded.
He threw his hands up. “Ican’t even do that.”
Madelaine said, “It’s in conjunction with this errand I’m on. I’m certain the phone he gave me will self-destruct into a puff of smoke once the call is concluded and I don’t need it anymore.”
Jack laughed. “No doubt.”
She excused herself to the bedroom to retrieve the flip-phone and have a private conversation with the Secret Keeper.
Madelaine hit the saved number to make the call, unconcerned by what time it was. He’d said he was available day or night, after all. He answered after two rings with, “Madelaine. How can I help?”
She said, “You knew, didn’t you? You knew what was in the box! How could you possibly know?”
“Let’s just say I have a vested interest in your success and move on from there, shall we? I will not be able to explain anything to you regarding my motives, actions or knowledge.” He continued, as if his involvement and her interest in it was not concluded, “By now, you’ve read the parchment and understandthat you must marry before you leave Alienn, and it must be at the downtown courthouse with the Justice of the Peace there, right?”
“Yes. I read it. And I’m not getting married to some stranger.”
The Secret Keeper was silent for a few seconds, then said, “You don’t have to get married to a stranger, Madelaine. You can marry whomever you wish. The suggestion provided is just that: a suggestion.”
Madelaine huffed. “I do not believe that for a single second. I know it cannot be as simple as that or they would not have provided a name, enclosed in a special little envelope folded up in the note.”
“Did you read the name in the envelope and for whatever reason have decided he will not do? Or are you simply against marrying and trusting anyone you do not know?”
“Both of those theories could be true, but I haven’t opened the envelope yet.”
There was another long silence from the other end of the line. “The Paladin Cabal will, of course, want you to do as they suggest. However, the specific text does not say youmustmarry the person named in the envelope. You may have to answer for your choices at a later date, so keep that in the back of your mind. You may choose your own groom for the length of this task. Itshouldbe someone you trust.”
“What about Jack Grey?”
“What about him?”
