Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Anxiety wrapped around Jade’s heart like a noose, pulling tighter until she could no longer breathe.
She’d been avoiding going back to the farmhouse—avoiding Nicolas—but she’d run out of options.
The latest note from him burned a hole in her pocket, as obvious to her as a beacon though it was folded and tucked away.
I thought we had a deal.
You’ve had significant opportunity to obtain the evidence I requested. It is time you return to me.
I’ll be expecting you tonight. Same time and place.
Jade’s heart clenched again as she recalled the words from the note she had received that morning.
Two days had passed since the tea with Marguerite and Alanna, and Jade had hoped that Nicolas had either forgotten about her or didn’t care that she hadn’t come back yet.
The appearance of the letter had proven neither was the case.
So she had left, the same way as she had before, scaling the wall surrounding the base and sneaking off into the night.
Jade never found the nerve to tell Theo about Nicolas and now debated whether that was the best course of action. He would have trailed her as backup, so she wouldn’t have been going into this alone.
No, really, it was more likely he would have tried to convince her against going at all. Or sent his whole company to the farmhouse in her place to “have a chat” with Nicolas.
While she had told Commander Matherson her suspicions about Grannam during their debrief after the tea, they still had nothing concrete to pin any of what Jade suspected on him.
And with Grand General Devereaux still insisting they had no leads for Jade to pursue, Jade found herself driven back to the person she knew had leads, the person who had asked to help her bring an end to this conflict.
No one else needed to die. If she worked with Nicolas, their combined efforts might be enough to stop Grannam before he had his assassin kill again.
Nicolas waited for her on the rickety porch this time. He leaned against the open doorframe with folded arms and one ankle crossed over the other, the ghost of a smirk on his lips. “And I was starting to believe you weren’t going to come back.”
Jade ignored the comment as she stomped through the overgrown yard. “Should you be standing on the porch? It doesn’t look structurally sound.”
Nicolas’s smile pulled wider. “Are you worried about me?”
She stopped at the bottom of the porch steps and stared up at him. “I don’t think anyone should die because of their own stupidity. Besides, you’re not worth anything to me if you’re dead.”
Pushing off the door frame, Nicolas dropped his arms and extended a hand out to Jade. “I’ll help you over the weak spots.”
Jade didn’t have a good reason to refuse.
In fact, being in his presence again, she remembered how much she relied on him.
How much he had helped her and would continue to help her.
She had no reason to feel apprehensive around him.
So, she took his offered hand and skipped over the rotting boards of the porch into the house.
Nicolas only moved back half a step as Jade reached the threshold, nearly pulling her against him.
She stopped, paralyzed by his proximity, and flicked her eyes up to meet his, those dark pools of mystery that fit him so well.
Even with only the waxing moon to brighten the night, Nicolas’s eyes glinted in the dim light.
Jade couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but stare at him.
They hadn’t been that close since they danced at the masquerade ball, and the same headiness that had overwhelmed her senses then returned, rooting her to the spot.
She couldn’t make sense of the thoughts that swirled in her mind, muddled and foggy and incoherent. All she knew was Nicolas. She trusted this man inherently, for reasons she couldn’t explain.
He stepped back and released her hand, pulling his warmth away with him, and Jade sucked in a breath. The spell was broken.
She followed Nicolas inside, where he reached over to a nearby table and retrieved the same blindfold he had put on Jade before. “You understand why I do this, don’t you?”
The deep cadence of his voice filled the silent space, touching Jade deep within her being. She nodded and allowed him to cover her eyes before leading her down the hidden steps into the dank tunnels once again.
They wound their way underground until arriving at the same bunker as before. Although Jade again tried to memorize the route they’d taken, she eventually got lost and confused and couldn’t remember if she’d mixed up some of the directions in her mind.
She didn’t usually have such difficulty concentrating on the task at hand, but her feelings for Theo and recent disappointment had weighed her down more than she cared to admit. She shoved it all aside, planting herself firmly present in this moment.
Nicolas removed the blindfold and gestured for Jade to take a seat on the couch where she had sat before. He dropped the blindfold on the long table and moved to stand in front of a painting hanging on one of the walls, within Jade’s vantage point from the sofa.
A sudden confidence filled Jade, the antithesis of the anxiety that had plagued her for days where thoughts of Nicolas were concerned. The trust they shared surely meant she could approach him with questions and demands, the same as he did with her.
She squared her shoulders and asked, “How much do you know about the king’s current state?”
Nicolas angled his head, his hands clasped behind him. “Cutting right to the chase, are we?”
“I don’t believe in wasting time.”
The right side of his mouth quirked, but it quickly returned to a more neutral state. “Excellent. Then what did you obtain as evidence that Lord Grannam purchased poison?”
Jade pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. He was always deflecting, it seemed. But this was the reason he had summoned her back there in the first place.
“I found a receipt for the purchase of the poison parathen in Grannam’s war room, along with what appeared to be the exact amount of the poison in question.”
“That’s remarkable work.” Nicolas strode casually toward her. “I’d like to see the receipt.”
Jade intertwined her fingers and pressed her joined hands together on her lap.
She didn’t miss that he had asked specifically for the receipt and not the poison itself.
Perhaps he realized the poison wasn’t what he needed to tie back to Grannam.
Or perhaps he somehow already knew she had only taken the receipt.
“My commanding officer has it.” The words came out raspier than intended, as though she choked on them.
Nicolas’s expression turned dark, any semblance of a smile wiped from his face. He took another sudden step toward her, and Jade flinched involuntarily, her whole body bracing for his reaction.
“I told you,” he growled, bending over her, “you were to bring anything you found to me first.”
Nicolas heaved a breath and pulled away from her, turning and slowly pacing.
When he spoke again, his voice was lighter.
“If we are going to work together, Jade, you have to follow my rules. We’ve already determined that the military is too inefficient to send any evidence through its channels.
I can’t do my part to end this conflict and see the rightful heir established on the throne if you are going to go running to your commander with what I have asked you to bring to me.
Now I have nothing to provide to my contact. ”
He was right. Anything he asked of her, she needed to follow through with her end of the deal.
“I’m sorry,” she said, dropping her head. “I hadn’t considered the implications of taking the evidence back to base first. It won’t happen again.”
Jade stared at her hands as she gripped them together in her lap, hearing Nicolas’s slow footsteps cross the room.
She didn’t realize how close he was until her chin was lifted up, held between his thumb and forefinger.
His face was inches from hers, and she locked onto his dark-as-night eyes that watched her with an unexpected ferocity.
“No, it won’t.”
He released her and stepped back, continuing to pace, and Jade’s body was overcome with a shiver.
She held her chin aloft for a moment more as though reaching out to him, craving his touch.
But the absolute thundering of her heart brought her back to herself, and she suppressed a gasp, goosebumps crawling over her skin even under her jacket.
What kind of power did he have over her that he could so strongly control her emotions and desires with a single touch?
It went against everything she knew—to allow someone such influence over her with no true authority.
Yet she found herself welcoming it. She wanted to do what he commanded and earn his favor.
“I believe Lord Grannam is the one behind the murders,” she finally said, finding her voice again.
“I overheard him speaking to someone about following through with something. But more than that”—Jade waited as Nicolas turned to face her—“I have reason to believe the king’s illness is not natural but caused by a failed assassination attempt, and Grannam orchestrated it so he could take the throne. ”
Nicolas stopped in his tracks and angled his head, his eyebrows pinched in curiosity. He spoke calmly and evenly as he asked, “What makes you think so?”