Chapter 11 The Guise of a Gift
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE GUISE OF A GIFT
Lilyanna and I were late for breakfast once again.
I thought I’d had the route memorized, then somehow, we ended up taking the long way, passing through corridors we both swore we’d never seen before.
But in a castle packed with identical slate gray walls and blurry high windows, everything seemed the same anyway. Goddess above, did I hate this place.
I sidled up to Clement who didn’t even bother greeting me before his scolding. “You left your post again last night.”
“Is that why you look so pleased to see me today? I bet you’ve been planning your verbal chastisement for the past few hours. Did you even get any sleep, or were you thinking of me all night?”
His hand moved to his saber. The obnoxiously boring rhythm of his fingers drummed into the silence.
I sighed. “Lilyanna made me, alright. I’m sure you obey orders you don’t approve of all the time.
” He still didn’t respond, just kept up that infuriating tapping on the diamond hilt.
“Anyway, you took my weapon away. How am I supposed to guard her when I’m unarmed?
” I wasn’t about to mention the knives in my boots because he would whip those away in a heartbeat if he knew.
“Knives won’t do you any good here.” He finally glanced down at me, the smallest trickle of softening cutting through his dark stare. “The only thing that will is listening to my advice. Or leaving. Preferably both.”
I grunted and focused back on the breakfast table. They couldn’t even eat that much food between them. Lilyanna pecked at some things, but it was such a waste. If I were unleashed, I’d demolish everything from the smoked fish to the tomato tartlets.
The prince noted Clement and I had stopped talking and cleared his throat.
Previously, he’d been silent, scanning an open paper in front of him.
“I need to remind you, my dear, to stay inside the castle. There are still worrying developments occurring in my town. I have the best people hunting for the culprit, but I’d hate to have you put in danger.
” He directed his comment to Lilyanna, but his gaze attached to my face.
“Only your maid is allowed out on errands. But, even so, I’m still concerned about both of your navigational skills.
It appears that finding your way to and from the dining room still seems to be a little tricky. ”
She laughed. It was an easygoing, light noise, but I knew her better by now. Her shoulders stiffened, and she remained focused on her plate, pushing around small pieces of hash.
Was the prince irritated with me? We’d come so close to kissing. There was no doubt that was his intention. I didn’t suspect people usually rejected his advances, and I’d literally turned tail and fled.
A knock sounded at the door, and Clement strode over. He had a brief conversation through the gap with Matron. Her ruby and diamond necklace caught the candlelight as she spoke, reflecting like dripping blood across her throat. He nodded and closed the door.
“My prince,” he said. “There was a man seen loitering around the castle. He tried to enter via the servant’s entrance, saying he wanted to speak with you and had information about the murders.
Matron sent him on his way, and said he should contact the detective in town who will inform me if there is any merit to his advice. ”
The prince nodded. “I agree.”
“And just so you know, it was the same man from the market. A newcomer to town. It could be nothing, maybe just trying his luck, but I’ll have the castle guards stay on alert in case he returns.”
My heart thumped against my ribcage. The Sheriff. It had to be.
The prince returned to his paper, and Lilyanna to pushing food around her plate.
I shifted my weight, adrenaline firing through my body.
I couldn’t let him leave. He needed to see me, to know that I could get him access to the prince or at least had secrets to spill.
He wouldn’t be able to resist an opportunity like that.
“Clement,” I whispered.
He frowned at me.
“I forgot to go to the kitchens and ask for afternoon tea to be sent up. Lilyanna sent me out the other day, and I got lost and completely forgot.”
“Not surprising.”
I ignored him. “Cover for me. I’ll be back quickly, presuming I can find my way.”
“No. I’m not going to cover for you, Tam. It’s your...Tam!”
I slipped away and was out the door before he could finish.
I hurried toward the kitchens and thankfully the corridors behaved themselves.
The room was deserted as breakfast service was over.
I snatched a stray teacake from the counter and swallowed it whole as I pushed through the servant's entrance.
The wind tore into me, slicing through my sweater and leggings.
I kept my head down but my senses tightly focused as I hurried toward the gate.
He would be lurking somewhere, observing who went in and out, cataloging faces, memorizing the castle routine.
It’s what I’d do, what I’d done, before Siobhan severed all the fun from my job.
I scowled, my concentration lapsing for only a second, but enough that I walked smack into the Sheriff.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I pushed off him, wishing I’d had the foresight to compel my magic to fire.
“Not your fault.” His voice was smooth and low, exactly what I’d imagined after all this time.
He took a step back, glancing toward the guard posted at the servant’s door.
“You look freezing. You shouldn’t be out in this weather without a cloak.
” He wore the same peaked hat and wool cloak he had in the market, both pulled so tightly together only a sliver of his face was revealed.
“Yeah, I know. I was heading out to find it. I left it at the Nightingale, the inn in town. But it’s probably best I borrow some outerwear and get it later.”
Above us, the gargoyle hovered. Its face creaked toward me in the wind, the sunken diamond eyes sharp and alert in the stone face. The Sheriff didn’t notice. Or perhaps the gargoyle always swiveled, silent as a weathervane.
Instead, he looked over my shoulder again, his body tensing. “Well, I may see you there. I needed a good recommendation for where to spend my night and to do so in the company of such a fine woman would be a treat.”
I should’ve been flattered, but I doubt I was any more tempting than the hundreds of other women he’d been with.
The guard posted at the door strode up behind me and I turned, knowing that as I did, the Sheriff vanished, the dull clinking of his spurs dying on the wind.
The gargoyle above creaked back to stare through the gates toward the town.
Before the guard could speak, I hurried back inside. Hopefully, breakfast hadn’t finished, or Clement would be even more irked than before. But it didn’t matter, I had a date with my target. I’d been closer than ever before. Just so long as he didn’t spook between now and this evening.
* * *
A sharp knock came at the door, and a note was kicked under the threshold. Clement was presumably still mad at me. Shame that it gave me a thrill of warmth whenever I thought of his hard eyes and perfectly tensed body. Irritation suited him down to a T.
Neither of us moved.
“You want me to get that, Your Ladyship?”
“Ouch.” She pulled her finger away from the butterfly, sucking on the end.
I laughed and retrieved the note. Dear Tam, I hope this is more to your liking.
Your friend, followed by an indecipherable signature.
I shook the paper in case something else magically fell out and eventually opened the door.
A petite blue box tied with a velvet ribbon was shoved up against the wall. I brought it inside.
The ribbons pooled to either side with the smallest tug at the bow.
Lilyanna and I knelt over the box as I lifted the lid.
A flat circular object with diamond-encrusted fob and buckle was sunk into a velvet pillow.
The cap was solid gold, a small indentation present, which opened when Lilyanna lightly pressed it, revealing a glass face and quivering hands.
She cooed, but I sank back onto my heels, my hands clenched in my lap.
“Is this from Clement?” It was just like him to send me a passive-aggressive gift. “This is a timepiece, right? Because I can’t get you anywhere on time.”
“It’s not for telling the time.” She gently lifted it out, her lips slightly parted. “It’s for direction and these are incredibly rare.”
“Well, he’s still an ass. Insinuating I can’t navigate my way round this stupid place. Why don’t you get one?” I glared at the compass in her hand, not wanting to touch it.
She patted my arm. “Because I have you.” She placed it back on the velvet pillow and took the note from my hand, studying the writing.
Her face hardened only for a flash, but it took great effort for her to smooth the frown lines embedded on her forehead before she spoke.
“It’s not from Clement, it’s from the prince.
That’s his handwriting.” She sniffed the paper and wafted it toward me. “And his scent.”
I gagged at the strong rose odor.
She handed the note back, her face carefully plain. “There’s more on the back. He wants you to go to his chambers at sundown. He says, ‘it’s east’.”
“Why?” I glanced at her, but she ignored me.
She reached for the compass again, turning it over in her hands, the glass surface flashing in the firelight.
“Lilyanna, don’t even think about it.” I tore up the note and threw it into the hearth.
The paper caught instantly, glowing skeletal white before vanishing in flame.
“Why don’t you come as well? You can tell him how much you like your gift.
The butterfly. It’s probably worth way more than this, and he handpicked it for you himself, I saw him.
This was probably just an afterthought, a taunt for my inability to ferry you around in here. ”