Stray rays of sunlight pushed through the dark clouds outside the windows of the hall, all coalescing around the strands of Lady Sabine’s pale, silver-blond hair. Twenty-five years old with the face of an angel, the young woman’s innocent beauty lit up the dour space.
Smiling, Sabine acknowledged the arrival of George and Uma, her royally-tinged amber eyes lingering on George’s strapping physique. Her buoyant attitude concerned Jax, as the poor girl had just lost her mother three days ago. Lady Astrid, the former lady-in-waiting to the late Duchess Penelope Pettraud, had been fighting a crippling disease for months and passed away in her sleep, her devoted daughter by her side. Jax had attended the burial with Perry and his brothers, for Lady Astrid had also been their mother’s cousin.
“How are you doing, Sabine?” Jax placed a tender hand on the girl’s shoulder.
Irritation fluttered across her dainty face. “I wish everyone would stop asking me that, to be honest.”
Surprised by the snappy retort, Jax pulled her hand away.
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the concern,” Sabine said in what seemed like an attempt to retract her initial harsh comment, “but with everyone fawning over my every move, it makes it hard to find a sense of normalcy.”
“When my parents died, I felt the same way.” Jax found herself saying words she hadn’t planned to share. “All the attention…it just made the hole in my heart all the more apparent.”
A sad smile etched into Sabine’s pearly skin. “I knew you’d understand.” She shook her head, a cascade of near-white hair swirling around her shoulders. “It’s not that I’m trying to forget Mother, but I need to focus on something other than the fact that she’s not here. Which is why…” Sabine bit her lip, her lashes fluttering as she gave Jax an earnest look, “I’m hoping I can persuade you to take me with you…back to Saphire.”
Chapter Two
The request forced Jax off-balance, and she took an inadvertent step back. “You want to leave, just like that?”
Sabine motioned around the otherwise empty banquet hall. “There’s nothing here for me anymore. With Mother gone…I’m no longer chained to this castle.” Her cheeks flushed crimson at the admission. “I will always be eternally grateful to Duk—er, Lord Cornelius, for allowing my mother and I to stay here with his family, but this castle is no longer a place I recognize as home. I want to see the world, to interact with people who aren’t my cousins.”
As Jax assessed the pleading young woman and considered her situation, she couldn’t help but wonder if there were more ambitious reasons for Sabine’s desire to depart her home. After all, not three weeks ago, Sabine had been aligning herself to become Philippe’s wife and the Duchess of Pettraud, but the Crown Prince’s murder had ripped that future out from under her. With Perry as Duke—and married to Jax—any chance Sabine had of becoming a Duchess was gone…at least in Pettraud.
As the silence stretched on, Jax noticed Sabine’s eager gaze settle on George, and a vicious burst of emotion ripped through her chest. Perhaps Sabine no longer desired the title of Duchess, but just the affections of a handsome, intelligent, loyal man. Jax had witnessed a friendship blossom between George and Sabine during their stay in Pettraud…at least, that’s what Jax had been telling herself. As much as she wanted George to be happy, an ugly spark of jealousy reared its head whenever she thought about the possibility of George courting Sabine. She didn’t entirely understand why she cared so much. She was married and blissfully happy with Perry…wasn’t she?
Uma’s words about Jax never knowing the sting of lover’s rejection echoed in her mind. Uma was wrong, for Jax had been madly in love once…with George. She’d harbored a crush on the sixteen-year-old recruit from the moment she laid eyes upon him as a young girl, but her feelings changed into something deeper after George risked his life to rescue her from an attempted kidnapping. A band of rogue nobles had attacked Jax’s carriage with the goal of blackmailing her father, the Duke, for her return, yet young George Solomon had singlehandedly thwarted their plans. From that moment on, George became one of Duke Saphire’s most valued guards, and Jax’s feelings for the handsome, loyal guardsman only grew with time. The night she celebrated turning nineteen, Jax had tried to persuade twenty-six-year-old George to leave his post and run away with her. She wanted a life where she could marry the man she loved, a life where she didn’t have to be a pawn in an arranged marriage made for power. She had been ready to give up her claim to the Saphire throne for him. She remembered his ardent reply as though it were yesterday.
“As much as I care for you, you are destined for greater things than being my wife. It may seem like a faraway notion now, but you were born to be Duchess, Jacqueline. In all the years I’ve served your father, I have never met a person who is more deserving of the title than you. I could never ask you to give up your destiny for the likes of me. I am but a common-born man, who lives to serve the remarkable young woman who will one day change our world.”
Her face heated at the memory. Even then, George knew her better than she knew herself. He knew she could never rightly turn her back on her people, and he’d had to break her heart to allow her to see it. If they had run away and gotten married, she no doubt would have enjoyed the freedom of normal life at first, but over time she would have grown bitter at her inability to effect change. It was in her nature to lead, to protect, to serve her people. The night she had professed her love for him, George had helped her understand and come to terms with who she truly was, and for that, she would be forever grateful, in spite of her devastation at the realization that they could never be together. Time healed her wounds, and in place of her desire grew a friendship bound by love and respect. He had been right, after all. As Duchess of Saphire, she had the power to change the world for the better, something she prayed desperately each day to the Virtues to help her accomplish.
“Duchess?” Sabine’s hesitant question broke through her reverie. “Will you allow me to accompany you back to Saphire? I’ll do anything you require, and I swear I won’t be a bother.”
Realizing she had been silent for far too long, Jax forced a smile across her regal features. “Of course you are welcome to join us, Sabine.”
Clapping her hands with unbridled delight, Sabine wrapped Jax in a quick, but fierce hug. “Thank you for giving me a chance at happiness,” she whispered in the Duchess’s ear, for no one else to hear.
The genuine appreciation in Sabine’s words sent a wave of guilt through Jax. Here she was thinking Sabine was laying out some diabolical plan to ensnare her Captain of the Ducal Guard, when in reality, she needed to put some distance between herself and the place where her mother had died and where Philippe had died. The young woman deserved the chance at a fresh start, and Jax was more than willing to facilitate such an event.
Freeing herself from Sabine’s grasp, Jax moved toward the dining table. “We’ll be departing as soon as I have a quick bite to eat, so I hope you’ll have adequate time to pack.”
Sabine’s face flushed once more. “I actually packed everything last night.”
“What made you so sure I’d say yes?” Jax raised a curious brow.
Sabine shuffled her feet, the hem of her gown brushing over the stone. “Well, I figured if you said no, then I’d set off somewhere else on my own. I’m determined to see more than just these gloomy stone walls for the rest of my life.”
Something in the girl’s resolute stare gave Jax confidence in the choice she’d made. “Well, you’ll be in for a treat, then. My home contrasts with this fortress in just about every way possible.” A light chuckle escaped her throat as she surveyed the cavernous room.
“I’ll arrange for my trunks to be loaded on the convoy.” With a deep curtsy, Sabine twirled and dashed out of the room, leaving Jax with a bemused Uma and George.
Uma sat down and reached for a nearby pitcher of water to pour for her sovereign. “She has spirit, that one. It will do her good to get away from all the darknes
s shrouding her life here.”
Jax’s mouth was already stuffed with a sweet roll, so she just nodded her agreement. With a questioning glance toward George, she swallowed. “Did you know she was planning to ask to accompany us back?” She did her best to make her words sound light and unaffected.
George’s lips curled in a crooked smile. “She told me of her plans to leave, but no, she did not reveal that Saphire was her intended target.”
Something flickered in his dark eyes, and Jax wondered why he wasn’t more pleased to have his new friend coming along. During their stay in Pettraud, George revealed to Jax that he had shared some personal thoughts—the contents of which he did not specify—with Sabine that she helped him understand and wade through. “She’s incredibly insightful,” he’d said when Jax had questioned him about it. The Duchess still didn’t know what secrets her guardsman had divulged to the young woman. The fear that he trusted Sabine’s opinion more than hers gnawed away at Jax more than she cared to admit.
Jax licked the frosting off the tips of her fingers. “Well, I hope I can devote some of my time to show her the sights. Or would you like me to delegate that to you?” Almost defiantly, she again met George’s gaze.
“Once we are back within the borders of Saphire, I will be far too busy rallying our forces to attend to your guest, Duchess.”
She flinched at the coolness blanketing his words. She didn’t miss his emphasizing that Sabine would be her guest, nor his addressing her as “Duchess.” George only called her by her title in a formal setting…or when he was annoyed with her. Did he not want Sabine to come back with them? Had she misjudged their after-dinner walks together or their side conversations she found herself so frequently interrupting? Surely he knew, despite her inability to keep her own sour feelings to herself, that she wanted him to be happy. If courting Sabine might bring him happiness, why was he suddenly pushing the young woman away, as if she had no further value to him?
Miffed at his frosty demeanor, Jax turned back to the breakfast pastries splayed before her on the gleaming table. Munching thoughtfully on a cranberry-orange scone, she felt, rather than saw, the chair on her other side brush against her skirts as George occupied it.
“I won’t lie to you, Jax,” he said. “I have enjoyed Sabine’s company while we’ve been here. As a friend.” His voice was low, so that not even Uma could hear them speaking over the scraping of her silverware. “But with everything going on in the realm, are you sure it’s wise to accept a new member into your confidence?”
The protective growl lacing his concerns coaxed a warming joy through her heart. She had been foolish to think his loyalties had somehow shifted. George Solomon belonged to her, through and through.
“While I agree with your wariness, I think Sabine could prove valuable to Saphire.” Jax swiped a handspun napkin across her lips. “At the very least, I can assist in finding her a suitable match that may be advantageous.” She watched his face carefully for any flicker of regret or anger at her offering up the girl’s hand in marriage.
George stroked the dark stubble sprouting on his chin. “She would make an enticing bargaining chip.”
His casual remark about the future of the woman he called a friend shocked Jax. He must have seen it in her eyes, for he whispered in her ear as he stood, “I’ll say it only once more, Duchess. Sabine is not the one who holds my heart. If she can be of use to the Crown, then I shall assist in whatever way I can.”
Before Jax could ask him what he meant, he disappeared through the double doors.
Uma, having been lost in a bowl of porridge throughout the conversation, glanced up at the sound of swinging doors. “Goodness, I didn’t even hear him say goodbye.”
That’s because he didn’t. Jax frowned after the ghostly trail George left behind. Pushing their puzzling interaction from her mind, she turned to her preoccupied lady-in-waiting. “I take it Hendrie is still torturing your thoughts.”
“Do you think he’ll come to see us off? After our last talk, I don’t even know if we parted as friends.” Uma sighed, propping her elbow on the table next to her empty porridge bowl. “Would he come to say his farewells to you? I know you two haven’t always seen eye-to-eye.”
Jax scoffed. “That’s putting it a bit mildly.” Despite years of trying to get into Hendrie’s good graces, the fact that Jax was a Duchess had always been a detriment to Hendrie warming to her. Even her leading a campaign to eradicate the stigma surrounding common-born people in the realm wasn’t enough to defrost his cool feelings toward her. “If he chooses to remain in hiding when we leave, then you’ll really know what kind of man he is, Uma, and I advise you to not waste a minute more of your time on him. Besides,” she said, folding her napkin and placing it on the table, “I’m sure there will be others there who will be eager to say goodbye.”
As if to prove her point, a head of dark, well-coifed curls poked into the room. “Ah, I was hoping to catch you both before Shavon locks me in his study all day.”
Jax rose from her chair and glided over to Galahad, who took her hand and kissed it in reverent greeting. Perry’s third oldest brother, and one of the most handsome of the Pettraud clan, Galahad was in training to become a High Courtier under the tutelage of Pettraud’s own High Courtier Shavon. “Is your need of training so dire that you must be forced to miss your sister-in-law’s send off?” Jax teased.
Galahad chuckled, as he possessed the same devilish streak of humor. “I am a masterful pupil, Your Grace. Any court would be lucky to have me.” His smile widened as Uma joined them near the doorway before a tired expression eclipsed his face. “Shavon just wishes to cram in some remaining lessons before I set off for Cetachi with Father.”
Jax’s muscles retracted throughout her body, still finding it hard to believe the former Duke Pettraud, Lord Cornelius, was banishing himself from the duchy. “Has Cornelius recovered enough to make the trek?”
Galahad’s features darkened. “I can’t really tell, to be honest. Physically, I think he’s back to his old self, but what the nightworm did to his mind…well, I don’t know if he’ll ever be the same.”
“I imagine the guilt he carries is also weighing him down.”
Galahad’s upper lip curled in a snarl. “I hope the Virtues damn Philippe for what he’s done to our father. He’s a good man. He didn’t deserve an ending like this.”
Jax tried to offer her brother-in-law a glimmer of hope. “Don’t think of it as an ending. Just because he is no longer Duke doesn’t mean your father can’t find purpose in his life. Why, he’ll likely play a vital role in the War Council, since Darian has invited him into his counsel.” With Perry’s ascension to the throne, Cornelius had pledged himself and his decades of wisdom to Duke Darian Fangard of Cetachi. Formerly a wild, untamed nation, the Duchy of Cetachi was still in its early stages of development, and while Darian had done a fine job of establishing peace and stability, he needed the wisdom and aid of allies. Not three days after Perry had been crowned, Darian had sent a messenger bird to Lord Cornelius offering the former Duke a seat on his growing council. Haunted by the memory of the betrayal and downfall of his eldest son, Cornelius had readily accepted the invitation and was making plans to head north within a fortnight, taking Galahad with him.
Galahad’s shoulders went slack. “I suppose you’re right. After the nightmare he’s gone through, Father deserves a fresh start.”
“I must say,” Jax began, “I am surprised he asked you to go with him.” When she saw the hurt in his eyes, she rushed on. “Perry could certainly use your talent for navigating the political arena in the months ahead.”
Galahad reached out a strong hand and gave her forearm a reassuring squeeze. “Father made the right choice. Perry is stronger than any of us have ever given him credit for. He will do fine under Shavon’s guidance.”
Jax tried to smile, but his statement did little to quell her whirling thoughts. Perry was a good soul, too good for this arena, in her opinion. But when Co
rnelius had invoked the Code of Succession after the death of his heir and named Perry as his successor, all hopes of sheltering her kindhearted husband from the cruelty of the political landscape died. How she wished Cornelius had passed the burden to one of his other sons, sparing her beloved Perry the messy journey ahead. Such musings were futile. Perry was now Duke of Pettraud, and she had to do everything in her power to protect him and the duchy’s people. She’d promised Cornelius, and she would keep her word.
“You are the one I’m really entrusting my legacy to, Jacqueline. Perry may be the sovereign in ceremony, but you and I both knew the minute I said his name you would really be leading the way. That boy will do anything you ask of him. He’s in so over his head, he’s barely treading water.”
Cornelius’s harsh declaration screeched against the shackles in her mind. She had tried to forget the true reason Perry had been chosen to lead Pettraud in his father’s stead, but the conversation kept fighting its way to the forefront of her thoughts. One thing was for sure: Perry must never know that the only reason he sat on the throne was due to her being his wife. It would destroy him to know he did not have his father’s confidence.
Galahad leaning in to kiss Uma’s cheek brought Jax back to the present, the dark memory releasing her from its grasp…at least for now.
“I do hope you have a safe journey back, and that we shall all be together again soon, under happier circumstances.” Galahad’s lavender eyes, the color marking his ducal heritage, lingered on Uma’s blushing cheeks.
Jax covertly elbowed her friend’s side to prompt her to acknowledge Galahad’s words.
“Agreed. It would be nice to spend time together without all the unpleasantness in the world hanging overhead,” Uma managed to trill out, the crimson flush in her face deepening.
Jax’s eyes danced with mischief as her gaze darted between the two. Once Galahad had backed away from Uma, she stepped forward to give him a hug. “Saphire will always be open to you, dear brother, should you desire to visit. May the Virtues watch over you.”
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