Chapter 2
Two
Sleep evaded Jade in the hours that remained of the night.
Where had the killer gone? Surely not past the grove of trees. So why hadn’t she been able to find him? It didn’t make sense.
Perhaps if her mind hadn’t gone down the ridiculous path of thinking she should engage the killer and try to stop him then and there, she wouldn’t have wasted precious seconds and lost him.
Where had that thought even come from? She had never worked like that and couldn’t puzzle out why her mind had gone in that direction.
The idea had cost her the killer’s trail.
Instead, Jade cycled back through what she did know.
She recalled every minute detail she had observed for what felt like the hundredth time.
Tall, likely over six feet. Strong. Secretive.
Agile, moving surprisingly quietly for his frame.
His hood had been pulled low and further shadowed the man’s face in the night, so she’d never determined anything about his features.
It was entirely unhelpful and monumentally frustrating.
Tired of rehashing the same useless information over and over again, Jade pushed the image of the killer out of her mind. Her thoughts drifted back to the library, to the victim, to the fire. To the burning book.
He’d wanted to get rid of it, but why? All Jade had gathered was the name of the late prince, which was nothing terribly unusual, given that his death had resulted in the issues around succession.
The book could have contained some of Count Aubergine’s records supporting Lady Arabella’s claim to the throne.
Or perhaps it incriminated the killer somehow.
A knock sounded on Jade’s door, and her eyelids snapped open. Sunlight streamed through her window. She had fallen asleep after all.
“Captain Ni’ihm?” a voice called to her through the door of her room. “Commander Matherson sent me to check on you.”
And she’d slept through her briefing with Matherson.
Blazing plague.
Jade flung the covers off and jumped to her feet, the haze of sleep still clutching tightly to her mind.
“Captain?”
Jade recognized the voice. Mena, one of the soldiers in her company.
“Thank you, Trooper Haan,” Jade finally said, her voice croaking. “Please tell Commander Matherson I’m on my way.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Faint footsteps sounded briefly on the other side of the door before they were gone.
Jade rushed into her bathroom—a luxury afforded to captains and higher-ranking officers—to get ready as quickly as she could.
Though tempted to drag her feet, considering her defiance of orders the previous night and the lack of good information to report, it did her no favors to be exceptionally late to a briefing.
Jade splashed water from the sink onto her face and patted it dry. With the last remnants of sleep gone, routine took over. She braided her thick, dark brown tresses as fast as her fingers would fly and wrapped the braid around her head, pinning it with quick, practiced motions.
After tugging on her pants and throwing arms in her white sleeveless undershirt and gray uniform jacket, Jade slipped her feet into her dress boots and laced them deftly.
For the final details, she buttoned up the jacket, slid a belt around her waist, and straightened her insignia.
The badge only identified her rank as a captain, not her status as an intelligence agent.
Such a detail was kept confidential, known only to those in her battalion and not a part of her official uniform.
Jade stopped for a beat, inhaling to settle herself after her rush to get ready, then opened her bedroom door into the barracks. She took measured, purposeful steps down the long hallway, through the common area, and outside into the courtyard.
Anxiety swirled in her gut as she walked and considered the conversation ahead.
Jade would have to admit that she had gone against orders and entered Count Aubergine’s home and that she had encountered the man she believed to be the killer and lost him.
She’d failed the mission Matherson had sent her on.
Doubt ate away at her. Was that what she was reduced to without tips from her mysterious informant? A reckless espionage agent who nearly got herself caught and lost the very trail she was instructed to find.
She would tell Matherson everything, of course.
This wasn’t the same as keeping her mysterious informant a secret, the reason she kept having repeated success with her missions and gaining continual commendations.
As long as the information was good and Jade accomplished the objective for the benefit of their cause, she saw no harm in keeping that little detail to herself.
Last night was different. Her commanding officer was required to know all the details of her mission and how it had gone south. The admittance would be humbling.
Troopers around her filed into different buildings or onto the training field, and the pathways around Jade emptied. A nearby clock rang out eight times to mark the hour. Jade was a full hour late.
She reached the Command building, a wide, two-story structure made of stone that housed the offices of the higher-ups as well as conference rooms, strategy rooms, studies, and archives.
Jade pushed open one of the heavy wooden double doors and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light.
Sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and majors filtered through the tiled lobby, the click of their booted steps echoing off the high ceiling.
Jade made a beeline for Matherson’s office on the ground floor. The carpeting in the hallways muffled her footsteps, but noise was still abundant. A shrill telephone rang. Voices carried down the hall. A door shut somewhere behind her.
She paused outside the door to his office, the rich mahogany nondescript save for a gold placard reading Cmdr. Antonius Matherson. Gripping the hem of her jacket, she tugged it even, then she stuck her chin out and straightened her shoulders.
Her closed fist hovered before the door for a moment before she rapped her knuckles across the wood of his door and heard his call for her to enter. She obeyed, coming inside and shutting the door behind her, then saluted her commander with an arm across her chest.
“Take a seat, Captain Ni’ihm.”
Commander Matherson sat behind his desk poring over a stack of papers, fingers on the arm of gold-framed glasses that rested on his nose.
He pulled the glasses off and laid them on the papers, then lifted his eyes to her.
His gaze was soft, the fan of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes betraying the smile that his lips did not show.
“Feeling well-rested, Captain?”
Jade took a seat in one of the plush leather armchairs across from him. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” She dipped her head toward him with her last words, indicating her appreciation both for asking and for the extra sleep.
Matherson gave her a small smile and nod as he entwined his fingers atop the shiny wooden desk.
Aside from the papers, the smooth surface was laden with a small stack of books, a container of pens, a metal figurine of a hawk in flight, and a miniature red, white, and gold Marrani flag.
His amused expression faded, replaced by a weary seriousness that Jade knew all too well.
Lines around his eyes and mouth betrayed his age, though Jade wondered how much of that came from the demands of his position as Commander, as he wasn’t quite fifty.
One word left his lips, firmly but kindly. “Report.”
Jade swallowed her pride as she folded her hands on her lap.
“I know my orders were to remain on the grounds of the estate and not go inside, but I had a sense something wasn’t right.
” A lie, but good enough to give Matherson a reason why she went against orders without bringing her informant into it.
“Unfortunately, Count Aubergine was already dead when I made it inside. I was able to do an examination of the body, and I suspect it was rienevoir, just like the others. A glass of wine sat on the table beside him, and his eyes and gums were tinged green. Plus, a poem about death was open on the count’s lap. ”
Stern eyes held Jade’s gaze as she gave her report, but by the time she had finished speaking, Matherson’s expression had relaxed. “Your instincts have been helpful to us on multiple occasions now, Captain Ni’ihm.”
Her instincts. If only that were truly the case.
“I can’t condone you going against direct orders, but you’ve done good work. And I trust you remained out of sight?”
Jade nodded, her breath held tightly within her lungs. She let it out in a gust. “Of course, sir.”
Matherson rubbed the short beard over his chin thoughtfully. “The same killer, the same method, the same kind of victim.” Matherson blew out a breath. “It’s fortunate our information was accurate and we had you at Aubergine’s estate last night.”
Accurate, but ill-timed. Jade bit back the retort.
It wasn’t her place to say so, but her frustration with the military’s adherence to rigid protocols grew with every mission.
They moved slowly to ensure all information or evidence was vetted, passed through the correct channels and levels of leadership, before taking further action.
It took them too long to connect the murders, too long to narrow down to one killer.
Jade’s patience with their stringent methods was wearing thin.
But Matherson and the military’s sources weren’t all-knowing. Not how her informant seemed to be.
“Anything else of note about the crime scene?” Matherson continued.
“The fire was going, and a book had been tossed in. I couldn’t make out anything from it except the name ‘Artis’ written on a page. I presume the killer lit the fire specifically to destroy the book.”
“Most likely destroying something that incriminated a potential employer.” Matherson leaned his elbows on the desk and pressed his lips to his joined fists.