Paradise Plagued
Page 22
“Why didn’t you share this with my husband?” Jax asked.
Abra’s expression grew fierce. “And risk Samira being charged with a crime she did not commit? How could I trust you not to pin the poisoning on her, too? Our family has been abused enough by people of noble rank.”
Jax couldn’t object. Knowing how badly this family had been treated by Kwatalarian nobility, their distrust was understandable.
“When I saw his body hanging from the rafters,” Nadir mumbled, his gaze lost in the memory, “it was easy for me to believe Tarek had killed himself, especially after our argument earlier in the night.”
“What did you really argue about?” Jax asked, remembering her intuition that Nadir had been hiding something when he confided his whereabouts to her and George.
“I was trying to convince him to run away with me.” Nadir ignored the shocked expressions on his parents’ faces. “I know it would have ruined my family, but in that moment, I didn’t care.” His face flooded with shame. “I just wanted to live happily ever after with the man I loved. I realize now how selfish I’ve acted. My sister was willing to give everything to this family, and I…nothing.” He reached for his parents’ hands and clasped them tightly. “I’m so very sorry.”
After a few wordless moments, Nadir stood a bit taller. “Finding Tarek in the greenhouse like that, I was so angry he had abandoned me. I didn’t even question why he would do such a thing. I’m sorry I left you all to deal with this alone. My pain consumed all rational thinking.” He grasped his sister’s hands. “Please forgive me. I should have never let any of this happen to you.”
Samira gathered her trembling brother in her arms, wordlessly conveying her acceptance of his apology.
“Duchess,” Ferran said, breaking the silence. “Have you endured enough truth for one day?” His expression revealed an unasked question.
Jax had always been proud of her sense of justice. When she had come face-to-face with her parents’ murderer, not once, but twice, despite all the history they shared, she had not let her feelings get in the way of the law. But what was the real crime here? She knew tampering with a body was a severe offense, but if the Earl was to never know the true details, what role did punishment serve here?
She held her head high as she delivered the verdict. “I think your family has suffered enough, Master Ferran. I think you all deserve a bit of happiness.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“And all wrapped up before dinner.” Perry raised a goblet in the air. “We didn’t even need to bother asking the Ogdams to delay the Earl’s visit.”
Jax sipped the honeyed mead in her cup, lounging under the stars by the hot spring. With night settled over the dunes, she was glad for the warm breeze billowing off the naturally heated pool. “I’m glad they didn’t. We needed the extra man. Nadir is riding to Pettraud tomorrow morning to contact your father.” She rested her head on the plush cushion. “He didn’t want to be around for the Earl’s arrival. I think he still needs time to process his grief.”
Uma shook her head before draining her glass. “I can’t imagine the pain he must be in. Pain for losing the person he loved, pain for learning what his sister suffered to make him happy, pain to know he wasn’t free to be with the one he loved.”
“I almost wish Master Ferran would tell the Earl what really happened,” Vita said with an undercurrent of venom. “That man needs to know he destroyed his own son. If he had just let Tarek live life for himself, I wonder if any of this would have happened.”
Hendrie swirled the alcohol in his cup. “I guess we’ll never know.”
The group drank in silence until George cleared his throat. “So what happens next, Duchess? Nadir contacts Duke Pettraud, then what?”
Jax shared the same weight tugging at his shoulders. “I’ve requested an armed escort back to Saphire. We’ll all travel together, under the protection of Pettraud.”
“You trust him?” George asked, ignoring the annoyance that swept across Perry’s face at the question.
She studied the glittering, bejeweled goblet in her hand. “I have no choice but to rely on my allies in this war ahead. I might as well start now.”
Perry shivered beside her, pulling her close on their shared chaise. “I cannot believe there’s to be a war with Tandora.”
“And Beautraud. There’s no doubt in my mind the Duke had a hand in this. The timing is too coincidental,” Jax pointed out. “And then there’s Savant.”
“Savant?” Uma brown eyes widened. “You didn’t mention that earlier. What part did they play in this whole plot?”
Edrice and Ammon’s concerned faces filled her thoughts for a moment. “Savant was the one who supplied the poisoned Soveignets.”
Hendrie’s eyes narrowed. “What makes you so sure about that?”
“The poison,” Jax said matter-of-factly. “Edrice and Ammon were able to determine its origin.”
Vita tipped so far forward that her chair nearly toppled over, clearly affected by the wine she’d consumed. “Well, go on, then, spit it out!”
“It’s a very rare plant called ‘maulroot’,” Jax explained “It used to grow along the southern coastline of the continent. Edrice found a passage in one of Abra’s old Ancient Faith texts about it. It was used rather frequently during stealth attacks leading up to the Rebirth. The priests of old would send their minions to poison the crops used to feed the rebellion to thin out their numbers.”
Uma shivered. “How barbaric.”
Jax continued with her explanation. “When the priests were finally overthrown and the Realm of Virtues was born, the sovereigns decided to set fire to the maulroot, burning it into extinction. Shale and rock were layered on top of the fields where it once grew, and it was forgotten.”
“Then how did it find its way to your favorite chocolate?” George asked.
She held up a finger. “Being the enlightened scholars they were, while the new dukes and duchesses of the realm agreed to eradicate the maulroot, they also decided one plant should be spared, for research. Because of the climate it thrived in, the first Duchess of Savant offered to house the dangerous plant in her private gardens after the ducal palace was built. And since the time of the Rebirth, maulroot has only ever bloomed in the royal house of Savant.”
George shook his head. “So, either Duke Savant is one of the most idiotic men on the continent, or he thought himself so clever, believing no one would ever be able to trace the origin of the poison.”
“While I’d wholeheartedly agree regarding his lack of mental acuity, I’m inclined to think he believed the knowledge of the maulroot’s existence to be buried with history.” Jax let a dark chuckle float in the air. “Children of the Virtues have access to so few records of the time before the Rebirth. I doubt it even crossed his mind the information might be notated in the annals of the Ancient Faith.”
“Beautraud, Tandora, Savant,” Perry said, counting them off on his fingers, “and perhaps Zaltor. Can the might of Saphire manage to defeat them all?”
Jax threw him a chastising look. “I could conquer the world if I set my mind to it,” she declared, breaking into a teasing grin. “And I won’t be alone. The missive Nadir carries also has a note for my grandfather. I’ve asked him to meet us in Saphire. With his aid and that of Pettraud and Cetachi, I really don’t even need to involve the other duchies. Our armies are nearly five times the size of theirs. But, as any levelheaded leader would do, I’m not about to send forces out to assassinate Tandora, Beautraud, and Savant. No, the War Council will convene for the first time in nearly five hundred years.”
Perry whistled. “War Council?”
Jax recited the rules passed down to her from her father. “When the Realm of Virtues was founded, leaders declared, should there ever be a grave breach in the virtues of humility, intelligence, bravery, or kindness, a war council of the realm’s leaders would assemble to determine the right course of action.” She paused to catch her breath. “I’d conside
r this subverted threat on my life a minor breach of kindness, wouldn’t you?”
Perry and George shared a smirk.
“Five hundred years?” Hendrie scratched his straw-colored hair. “Why did this happen the last time?”
Jax’s lighthearted expression grew dark. “Not long after the Rebirth, when the people began to settle into their new way of life, practitioners of the Ancient Faith begged to continue their ways in all corners of the continent. Tensions began to flourish, so much that the ducal rulers called a War Council to manage the potential rebellion.”
“What was the outcome?”
“A compromise,” Jax said with a shrug. “To deter another war, the Children of the Virtues forfeited land in Hestes and Zaltor for the Ancient Faith to call their own, and allowed a shrine or two in each province, much like the Kwatalarian temple Abra oversaw. Of course, over the centuries, the land was slowly purchased or forcibly taken as the Ancient Faith’s influence faded across the realm. There are only a handful of active temples left in Zaltor—the Faith was on the edge of extinction all but fifty years ago. Yet, it continues to carry on, thanks to rules of tolerance set forth by my father and people who are proud of their beliefs, like Nadir and Master Vyanti.”
Hendrie shook his head in wonder. “What a vast world we live in.”
Jax raised her goblet in agreement. “It’s a bit frightening to think where we shall sit in the annals of history five hundred years from now.”
Uma poured sweet-smelling mead into Jax’s cup. “I’m sure you’ll be looked upon favorably, Duchess.”
“All I ask the Virtues now is to see us safely back home.” Jax gazed around lovingly at her friends, finally feeling the peace she had hoped to achieve while away from Saphire. “I’m sorry this getaway turned out to be anything but relaxing.”
Uma giggled. “I’m sorry to say, Jax, but you’ve hardly shocked us.”
“It’s amazing how quickly trouble finds you,” Vita said. “Perhaps I should have had my father send my sister in my stead. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.” Her glittering gaze revealed she was teasing.
The Duchess of Saphire rolled her eyes at the laughing crowd. “I can’t take you people anywhere.”
After the laughter subsided, Uma and Hendrie opted to take a stroll through the gardens, and Vita decided to head back to her room to bathe before dinner.
Jax lounged comfortably in her chair, enjoying the company of the two men she trusted most in this life. “What’s bothering you two?” She could tell from their stiff posture that something was eating away at them.
George looked at Perry and wordlessly beckoned him to speak first.
“What are you going to ask of the War Council?” Her husband searched her face for answers. “You said the last time this happened, the leaders divvied up the land and let the remnants of the Ancient Faith go on their merry way.”
“I certainly don’t plan on that.” Jax snorted at the absurd thought. “No, I’ll be asking a much higher price of Duchess Tandora and the Dukes.”
“Such as?” George lifted an eyebrow.
“Their lives.”
Murder is a royal affair.
Look for more Court of Mystery novels, coming 2019.
The Ducal Detective Mysteries:
The Ducal Detective
A Feast Most Foul
A Voyage of Vengeance
A Summit in Shadow
Throne of Threats
Court of Mystery series:
Paradise Plagued
Burdened Bloodline
Sovereign Sieged
Crown of Chaos
www.saraheburr.com
Connect with Ms. Burr on Instagram (@authorsaraheburr) or Twitter (@SarahEBurr).
Acknowledgements
I am delighted to share the next installment of Jax’s journey with you all, and I hope you have enjoyed seeing her story continue to evolve and unfold. If someone had said I’d be preparing her for war a year after writing The Ducal Detective, I would have thought they were crazy. I’m so blessed that these characters have resonated so well with readers, and I hope I am able to give them the stories they deserve.
As always, thank you to Bettye Underwood for her meticulous edits to make this book the best it can be. Her attention to detail rivals some of the most famous literary detectives out there.
Mihail Uvarov did a wonderful job bringing to life the vision I had for Ogdam Oasis in his beautiful cover illustration, and I thank him greatly.
Dedications
For my aunts and uncles who have welcomed the Duchess with open arms (and onto their bookshelves). Thank you for all your support.
Notes from the Author
Thank you for reading Paradise Plagued, the first novel in the Court of Mystery series. If you’re just getting to know the Duchess and her friends, make sure to check out her previous adventures in the Ducal Detective Mysteries, available on eBook and in paperback. Any and all reviews are welcome!
Keep up-to-date with the Realm of Virtues by following @authorsaraheburr on Instagram and @SarahEBurr on Twitter.
Join Sarah E. Burr’s Facebook Page for all things author related.
We look forward to your next visit in the Realm of Virtues!