Chapter 15
Fifteen
The summons to Commander Matherson’s office the following morning shook Jade to her core.
Had he discovered she sneaked out? Did he want an explanation as to where she went and why?
Her stomach sank all the way to her feet as she pounded on the path toward Command.
Leaving base without authorization would absolutely result in disciplinary action.
Maybe her confession and freely giving Matherson all the information she knew about Nicolas would lessen her punishment.
She’d seen Theo across the dining hall earlier at breakfast, and he’d smiled at her as if nothing was wrong.
He must not have known. Perhaps someone spotted Jade scaling the wall and reported it directly to Matherson.
Regardless, nausea swirled in Jade’s stomach as she passed through the lobby of Command and hung a left down the first hallway toward Matherson’s office.
Jade stopped at the door to his office and inhaled through her nose before she knocked. Her commander’s voice beckoned her inside, and she braced herself as she twisted the knob and crossed the threshold.
Matherson stood behind the desk at a bookshelf, his head bent over an open book in his palms. “Have a seat,” he said without looking up, and Jade complied, her pulse racing.
Matherson finished what he was reading, marking his place with a small piece of paper, and returned the book to the shelf before sitting in his chair and facing Jade.
“Featherly has received a call from Lady Marguerite, and she asked to speak with you. The trooper who took the call told her you were out, so we’ll need you to return that call. If she gives you details for the upcoming dinner, we’ll start to make arrangements for you and Captain Redman.”
Jade’s breath rushed out of her lungs. Was that all?
Just an update on her current assignment?
Perhaps she was letting the secretiveness of the night before get the better of her.
She’d taken all necessary precautions before slipping over the wall and out of base.
And, not to mention, she was Captain Jade Ni’ihm.
She’d snuck into Lesseine, Evenshold Palace, and more without attracting attention.
She could sneak out of her own military base without being caught.
“That sounds excellent, sir,” she said, finally able to take a full breath for the first time since she had received Matherson’s summons.
“I’m afraid that wasn’t the only reason I called you in to this meeting, however.”
Jade’s heart constricted, and a lump lodged in her throat.
The anxiety came crashing back down over her, and she immediately forgot everything she had just considered to reassure herself.
She gripped her hands so tightly in her lap that her knuckles turned white, conveniently hidden behind the desk where Matherson couldn’t see.
“I received a call from Grand General Devereaux this morning. The king has taken a sudden turn for the worse. It is unlikely he will live much longer now, which means two things for us. We’re that much closer to seeing Prince Reynauld take his rightful place as king, which would bring this conflict to an end, but it also means that everyone else is more likely to take drastic measures now.
The clock is ticking, and anyone vying for the throne is going to give their best last-ditch effort. ”
Again, the anxiety about Jade’s own secrets fled, but it was replaced with a different kind of tension.
What might this mean for the person who’d hired the assassin to take people out?
How far would they go to ensure they took the throne instead of Reynauld?
How many more people would lose their lives before the king died?
Jade needed to find out who was behind the killings as quickly as possible.
“This information has to stay between us. I’ll bring Redman in on it when we know a little more, but for now, it can’t get out that the king is on his deathbed.”
Jade nodded. “Understood, Commander. Do you have specific orders for me for the dinner party?”
Commander Matherson tapped his index finger on the shiny wood of the desk. “We need something concrete on any one of the contenders for the throne, and since this dinner is at Evenshold Palace, I’m making Lord Grannam our top priority at the moment.”
Fortunately for her, she had a brand new lead on Grannam.
A debate raged in Jade’s mind. She had decided against working for Nicolas and the implications that came with it, but if she followed this lead he’d given her, she might find evidence against Grannam and help bring him down.
But working for Nicolas had a caveat. She had to give him the information she found to get more leads and potentially withhold that information from Matherson.
Matherson propped his elbow on the desk and rested his head against his fingertips, then rubbed the wrinkles along his forehead.
“I’ve hit a wall with the grand general, and I’m not sure why.
When we spoke this morning, she told me the guard at the castle is being cut in half, but she won’t go into details.
I questioned her about the murders, about any information that others under her command may have gathered, and she said nothing more than the investigation was underway.
” Matherson paused, raising his head and dropping his fingers to his chin.
“She’s never been so cryptic before. I’m not sure what’s changed, but something has.
I don’t think it’s just the king’s condition. ”
Jade willed her breathing to remain even though her heart beat faster.
The timing was too close to be coincidental, wasn’t it?
Perhaps Devereaux was using this to test Jade’s abilities, to see what she was really made of.
Since Matherson said the grand general wanted to keep an eye on her career, perhaps this was her way of challenging Jade and seeing what she could accomplish with minimal information.
But it still seemed odd coming the day after Jade met with her informant for the first time and when the conflict was moving toward such a critical point.
She still knew nothing about him—about Nicolas.
Not really. How he got the information he did, what all he knew about The Claim, what his motivation was.
How he knew so much about Jade. A shiver tore up her spine even though the room suffocated her with its stifling warmth.
But if Grand General Devereaux wasn’t passing pertinent information along to Matherson and therefore to her, she would need to get leads from somewhere.
She would have to agree to Nicolas’s terms and work for him.
“I’ll learn something at this dinner, Commander,” Jade said, finally finding her voice. “I understand the direness of the situation.”
Matherson nodded once, the concern receding from his expression. “I know I can count on you, Captain Ni’ihm.” He smiled, small and sincere. “We’re very fortunate to have you.”
The proverbial knife weighed heavily in her hand with the betrayal it would eventually serve out in Matherson’s back.
Though she needed a way to get around the military’s apparent lack of urgency, she hated to keep things from her commander.
Stomach acid rose in Jade’s throat, and she pushed down the guilt that came with it.
She didn’t deserve Matherson’s favor or his kindness.
Jade tried to return the smile, playing the part. “I’m just doing my job.”
Theo waited beside the carriage with the gardens of Featherly Manor as his backdrop, the low-hanging sun casting a golden glow over the scene.
Despite the heaviness of the circumstances surrounding her, Jade cracked a smile as she came down the front steps to join him.
Whatever had happened between them in the arena as they sparred days ago was a distant memory.
Jade’s encounter with Nicolas and the changes in the Conflict of Succession had pushed the awkwardness of the moment and the feelings associated with it far from her mind.
“It’s the princess herself.” A smile spread across Theo’s face at the inside joke.
Jade leaned into the subtle jab. “Good to know you respect those in positions above you, footman.”
In the whirlwind of excitement preparing for her first mission of this assignment at the masquerade ball, Jade had hardly paid attention to Theo in his own disguise.
Now, in the golden summer glow, she couldn’t ignore it.
He thoroughly looked the part of a footman in an aristocratic house.
He wore a nicely tailored navy blue suit with a cream-colored vest and white button-down shirt.
Silver buttons on the cuffs and at his waist glinted in the waning light.
His short brown hair was styled back, all stray locks accounted for.
The dazzling smile that shined down at her made her stomach flip and brought her back to the place where they’d been in the arena, and the phantom of his arm pressed against her waist again.
She crossed to the door of the carriage and Theo extended his arm to grasp the handle, but he stopped and held his arm there to block her entrance. She glared at him good-naturedly, but the seriousness in his ocean eyes took her by surprise.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concern etched on his features. “You’ve seemed kind of . . . guarded lately.”
Jade’s eyes fell from his and flashed to his white-gloved hand on the door handle. He must have taken her glance as confirmation, and he stepped in between her and the carriage door, his closeness paralyzing her.
He dropped his voice to a murmur, meant for her ears alone. “If this is about the training arena the other day—”
“Theo.” Jade squeezed her eyes shut, placing a hand on his arm to stop him. The simple admission that he had noticed something as well was too much for her in that moment. “No, it’s . . . it’s just the assignment. There’s a lot on the line right now.”
His silence forced her gaze to meet his, and his proximity had her craning her neck to look up at him. He studied her, the concern transforming to question. “Something’s happened.”
Jade nodded almost imperceptibly, her eyes darting to the corners to catch sight of the troopers seeing them off outside. “Commander Matherson will fill you in later. But tonight has to go well.”
Theo lifted his free hand to rest atop hers where it lay on his arm and squeezed her fingers. Without another word, he pulled at the handle and opened the door, helping her inside the carriage before turning and taking his place at the front.
Jade nearly collapsed on the seat once tucked away in the carriage.
She leaned her head back, and her eyelids fluttered shut.
The distractions of Nicolas, the king’s turn for the worse, and the cessation of information flow from leadership to Matherson had kept Jade’s mind from straying to thoughts of Theo.
But his reassuring squeeze still lingered on her fingers, and she still saw his lovely eyes studying at her with such worry.
He was trying to bring up the training arena.
Which meant he’d noticed it too. Something between them.
And if he’d noticed it . . . if he felt the same way . . .
Jade stopped the loose train of thoughts before it got away from her.
She was on her way to a dinner party at Evenshold Palace on an assignment crucial to The Claim.
She needed to be getting into character, to preparing her mind for the night.
The last thing she needed was thoughts of Theo throwing her off.
She cleared her mind of everything but the character she had created, the girl who was giddy with excitement to be attending a dinner party with members of the royal family.
If she was going to get invited back for anything else, she had to sell this.
She had to buy into everything it meant to be a noble.
Her disgust for the frivolity and duplicity of the aristocracy couldn’t make an appearance, so she shoved that part of herself deep inside and embraced the very things she swore she would always hate.