Vita complied and swiftly tiptoed out of the room, leaving Jax to her whirlwind of thoughts.
Fear and anxiety dominated them all, and an overwhelming sadness crashed down on her. She was supposed to be preparing for her wedding, one of the happiest days of her life, and yet here she was, feeling utterly useless and alone. Between Uma’s aching absence, George’s intense concern, and Perry’s disapproval, she couldn’t find her footing. She felt like she was on the brink of an abyss, one false move threatening to push her over into darkness.
Chapter Fifteen
She woke with a start, murky images of the serpent-sword crest fading from her nightmares. What was it about that symbol that caused her heart to race? She reached for the parchment now tucked in her nightstand and once more examined the inky drawing. Why was it beginning to feel familiar to her the more she dreamed about it?
Throwing off her silk sheets, Jax climbed out of bed, her nerves on edge. Shooting a look at the clock, she saw that it was almost one in the morning. As much as she knew she should take the sleeping draft Master Vyanti had provided, she decided against it. Feeling unsettled, she opted to go for a walk.
She changed into a simple gown, discarding her nightdress on the floor for Vita to deal with later. She placed the parchment in her pocket, and without a glance back at her inviting bed, she marched out into the dark hallway. This late at night, only a few lit torches lined the halls, casting an eerie glow all around.
A chill ran down her spine as her fingertips brushed the parchment in her dress pocket. Perhaps she would use this time to go to the archives, as she and Carriena had originally planned. Maybe she could find something that would decode the meaning of the menacing symbol.
Dashing down the stairwell from her tower, Jax moved silently through the palace, giving an awkward smile here and there to the guardsmen positioned along the hallways. She had no doubt her movements would eventually be reported back to George.
A door ahead creaked open, halting her in her tracks. “Goodness,” she said as a lanky figured emerged into the dim light, “you gave me a fright!”
Charles rushed to her side, the door slamming behind him. “Sorry about that, Jax. I was just coming back from the library. Got caught up in some research. Master Vyanti mentioned the most fascinating method for blood thinning at dinner. I just had to read up on it.”
Jax could still feel her heart racing from the unexpected encounter. “Of course, of course. I hope you found the information you needed. I’m actually heading to the archives myself.”
“Shouldn’t you be resting for your big day?” Charles asked, raising a pale eyebrow.
She breathed a longing sigh. “Isn’t funny that sleep never comes when you need it most?”
“I’m sure Vyanti has something in his stores that could help with that.” He shrugged. “Goodness, I feel like most of what I do for Duke DeLacqua involves some kind of sleep tonic.”
Jax could imagine the Duke’s floundering finances keeping him up at night. “I doubt even the strongest potion could ease my mind right now.”
“Curiosity is the fickle beast, isn’t it?” Charles said with a sly grin, holding open the door he had just come through. “Happy researching, Duchess.”
She bade him good night, watching him disappear down the corridor, back to the wing of the castle where he and his sister were staying. She smiled, dearly hoping the Montivarius siblings would make Saphire their home one day. It would be nice to have friends around.
Resuming her trek to the archives, she nearly collided with a silent figure hurrying around a corner. “Bastion? What are you doing up at this hour?”
“Your Grace,” the young man said, scrambling to bow before her, “I am so sorry. I didn’t even hear you coming.”
“No harm, no foul,” she reassured him. “Does Vyanti know you are out here?”
“Oh yes, Your Grace. He sent me to tend to the fireblooms. I actually have been keeping an eye on them, you see. They should be ready by the evening celebration tomorrow.” Bastion smiled at her. “They will be a sight, for sure.”
“I look forward to seeing them,” Jax said, giving his scrawny shoulder a fond pat. “Just make sure you get enough rest to allow for a full recovery.”
“Master Vyanti says I’m doing loads better.” He turned to show her the back of his bruised head. “See, the bump’s almost gone!”
She laughed at his juvenile excitement. “I’m heartened to see you thriving under his care.”
“Yeah, I hope I’ll be able to leave soon. My family needs me to bring in wages back home,” he said, growing reflective at the mention of his life outside the palace.
Jax felt a pang of guilt, as she did not have the heart to tell him it would not be safe for him to leave until this whole ordeal with Uma was resolved and he was no longer a target. “Why don’t I have High Courtier Jaquobie send along a purse to your parents? After all, I need to pay you for caring for the fireblooms.”
Bastion blushed. “You’re too kind, Duchess.”
“It’s the least I could do, considering you were attacked all because of my silly wedding.”
He bowed in return. “It has been the highest honor of my life, Your Grace.”
She waved as he hurried back to Master Vyanti’s infirmary with a slight skip in his step.
“Tsk tsk, such a shame you’ve given us no choice, Duchess, but to tell Perry you’ve been seeking the attentions of a younger man,” a slimy voice taunted from the shadows of the hall.
Jax whirled around, coming face-to-face with not just one man, but Philippe, Kaul, and Elias. Virtues’ sake, is no one asleep in their rooms? She gave a tight smile to the three Pettraudian brothers. “I hardly think Perry would believe a florist’s apprentice could tempt me.”
Philippe’s bruised face made him appear all the more menacing in the moonlight that streamed in from the corridor’s high windows. “Yes, I suppose you do have more business sense than that.”
Her eyes narrowed, noting a sloshing bottle of wine in his fidgeting hands. “What are you gentlemen doing out so late at night?” She did not like the leering looks plastered on the brothers’ faces. Down the hall, she could hear the ducal guardsmen moving closer to her.
Kaul must have seen the armored men approaching behind her, for he grabbed his eldest brother’s arm and pulled him back. “Just clearing our heads, Your Grace. We had more than our fair share of mead tonight and needed to walk it off before going to bed.” He sent looks of warning to the other two, who nodded their support.
Jax felt her stomach twist into knots, seeing through the blatant lie. “Might I suggest sending for a tonic from our court physician, then?” she recommended. She turned to three guards who had formed a wall behind her. “Will you please escort the Pettrauds back to their suite?” she asked, trying to keep her voice as light as she could, not wanting Philippe to sense her fear and attempt to use it to his advantage.
“No need for escorts,” Elias said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “We can see ourselves back. Good night, Your Grace.” He bowed at the waist, motioning for his brothers to follow his lead.
“Make sure they actually go back to their rooms,” Jax whispered under her breath to the nearest guardsman. With a salute, he took off, concealing himself in the shadows as he trailed the brothers.
“Your Grace, would you like a personal escort until you reach your destination?” one of the remaining sentries asked.
Normally, she would have told them not to be silly; she was perfectly safe in the walls of her own castle. But Philippe’s cruel face haunted her. “That would be lovely, thank you,” she said.
They ran into no other interruptions the rest of way, and within a few minutes, Jax pushed open the great doors to the library. The various fireplaces throughout the room had been doused and the candles had all been snuffed, leaving its contents covered in darkness. Taking a torch from the outside hallway, Jax stepped into the cavernous space and debated where to begin her
search. Wishing she’d brought a cloak to combat the chill in the air, she stalked the lengthy shelves, scanning for anything that stood out to her. Grabbing a few tomes about the history of the Realm of Virtues, she began her quest in the hopes that the crest might have been used at some other point in history. She skimmed numerous pages on the rise and fall of rebellions during the first few centuries of the realm’s creation, not once finding mention of a group that used a serpent-sword as their banner.
From there, she moved on to a few scrolls about the Ancient Faith, wondering if the crest had something to do with the old religion. Unfortunately, the Saphirian archives had very few resources about the Faith, and she quickly came up dry.
Her eyes grew heavy as the night wore on and piles and piles of parchment grew higher on her workstation, all to no avail. The sun was just peeking through the stained-glass windows when she found a book that excited her.
“A Collective History of Saphirian Nobility.” She read the binding aloud, pulling the massive tome from its perch. The book was an extensive record of all the noble families throughout Saphire’s illustrious history, likely updated by the scholars maintaining the archives. She briefly considered just waiting until they arrived for the day and asking then if any of them were familiar with the crest, but she didn’t have the patience to delay any longer.
Plopping the book down, she began rifling through page after page, stopping every so often to examine the colorful symbols from each noble house that caught her eye. She never realized until now how many great families had risen to power then eventually crumbled into ruin over the centuries. Many in Saphire’s history had used serpents or swords in their crests, but never both.
As she flipped past each yellowed page, her hopes of finding an answer sank further and further. Halfway through the book, she thought about giving up, when her fingers absently turned a page and the world around her faded away. Wide-eyed, she took in the image of an inky silver-scaled snake wrapping around a golden sword against a shield of bronze.
“How could I have forgotten?” she said in a faint whisper, her thoughts reeling as she read the text below.
The powerful symbol is associated with House Reinbeck, who at one time was a revered and prominent member of Duke Saphire’s inner circle. However, when the last of the Reinbeck heirs was arrested attempting to kidnap Princess Jacqueline, the family fell into ruin and died off.
Placing the threatening note next to the book’s page, she knew she’d found a match. The only difference in the crests was the position of the shield. In the book, the shield was upright. On the note, the shield was drawn upside down. And as her memories unlocked, she knew why she had felt like she’d seen that seal in her dreams. It tormented her nightmares as a child after she had been rescued from Reinbeck’s failed kidnapping. How could she have suppressed the horrific memory for so long? She remembered the men attacking her carriage, bashing in her door, holding her mouth shut as she struggled. Oh, how she’d struggled against her captor’s strong chest, her eyes locked on the threatening symbol embroidered into his tunic. The symbol before her now, of a noble house turned upside down and gone rogue.
“Duchess!” George burst into the library, his sword at the ready. “We have a problem.”
She looked up from her studies, her eyes wild. “Reinbeck!” She grabbed the note and brought it to him. “I remember it all now. This is the same crest he and his men bore the day they kidnapped me. Reinbeck must be behind Uma’s disappearance, but I don’t know how. He’s been locked away in our dungeons for over seventeen years.”
The Captain of the Ducal Guard met her gaze with fervent anger. “The morning shift just reported in from relieving the night guard in the dungeons. They found all the men unconscious. Some type of drug, most likely. I’m having Vyanti look into it as we speak.”
Fear thrummed through her body, and she guessed George’s next words before they were out of his mouth. “Reinbeck is no longer in his cell, is he?”
The anguish in his eyes was almost too much to bear. “He’s gone.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Remind me the next time I go to put someone in our dungeons to just hang them instead,” Jax seethed as she stormed out of the library. “It would save us all a great deal of trouble, wouldn’t it?”
George marched silently behind her in worried silence.
“Are your men all right?” she asked, ashamed to have taken so long to express concern for the unconscious guardsmen.
“I hope so. I thought they were dead, they all looked so pale,” he whispered, his dark eyes swimming with the memory.
“Vyanti is attending to them?”
He nodded. “Yes, I sent for him right away. Not only to nurse them back to health, but to detect what poisoned them. If we can figure that out, we might be able to find who did this before too long.”
“You mean, figure out who amongst our guests is working in tandem with Reinbeck,” Jax stated grimly. “Do you have any idea what time this took place?”
“The guards last shift change was at six in the evening last night. So right now, all we know is it could have happened anytime within those twelve hours.”
Jax frowned, falling back to let George take the lead down to the dungeons. “That’s a rather large window.”
George ran a hand through his hair as they descended the dark stairwell into the belly of the castle. “That’s why I’m hoping Vyanti will be able to tell us more about what drugged them. Perhaps a reaction time or something, anything to help narrow it down.” He glanced back over his broad shoulder. “How did you piece together that it was Reinbeck?”
“I was researching all the noble houses throughout Saphire’s history and found that House Reinbeck had a nearly identical signet to the one found on the threat. The only difference was that the shield was turn upside down. And that realization brought back a flood of memories I guess I’ve been suppressing since I was nine.” She was ashamed she hadn’t thought of it sooner.
George sensed her disappointment. “I was there that day too, remember? I guess House Reinbeck has been is disrepair for so long, it’s all but been forgotten.”
“Why now?” she asked, although she knew he had no answer. “He’s been rotting away for nearly twenty years. Why make a move now?”
George held the door to the dungeons open for her, a swarm of voices coming from the other side. “Perhaps there was no one around willing to help him until now.”
Hearing it from his lips, Jax shivered at the implication that one of her companions was behind the chaos. Stepping into the long passageway, she spied Vyanti and Jaquobie up ahead, surrounded by anxious, but alert soldiers.
“I’ve sent as many men that can be spared out in search for him, but I doubt we’ll be able to catch a trail,” George said as they walked past the vacant cells lining the hall.
“I hope you’ve been discreet about this?” Jax questioned. It would spell disaster for her if the visiting Dukes got wind that a prisoner had escaped from her dungeons.
“As discreet as we can be. If anyone approaches the guardsmen, they are to say they are on a training exercise,” George assured.
She knew she couldn’t keep Reinbeck’s disappearance under wraps for very long without endangering the lives of her people and her guests, but she needed time to figure out how to best approach the situation.
She arrived at Jaquobie’s side, and her High Courtier gave her a grim look. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to spin this, Jacqueline. It’s not looking good.”
“Until we have someone to blame for this, I want it kept secret,” she said with a hiss. “Perhaps the realm can forgive this massive blunder if we know the friendly face who’s so skillfully betrayed us.”
Jaquobie gave her a shrewd stare. “You believe a guest within the castle aided Reinbeck?”
“I’d be naïve not to consider the possibility. There’s no way outside interference could have made it past the defenses George set up.”
&n
bsp; “Then how did they manage to escape the palace undetected?” Jaquobie countered.
Jax defended George and his men out of loyalty. “If the sentries thought they were letting a guest walk through the gardens, we can hardly fault them. We know it’s possible to scale the walls from inside the grounds. It’s been done before…” she trailed off.
Vyanti, apparently having finished examining the fourth and final victim, looked up, his expression drawn and weary. “These men were drugged with a plant called laceroot. It’s not life-threatening, even in large doses, but it does have a long-lasting effect. Once ingested, the victims’ memories from the past day or so are all forgotten.”
Jax felt her heart plummet. “So they won’t be able to tell us who drugged them when they wake?”
“No,” Vyanti said with a sigh, clasping his hands in thought. “The perfect tool for a crime such as this.”
“How fast-acting is it?” George asked. “Do you have any idea how long ago they consumed it?”
Vyanti leaned down once more, lifting back the eyelid of one of the fallen guards. “I’d say they’re due to wake up soon with a nasty headache. That would mean they were drugged, oh, sometime around midnight. They would have been unconscious within the hour.”
George folded his arms. “That means Reinbeck could have had as much as a four-hour head start on us.”
“I think you should call your men back to the palace, Captain,” Jax said. Her words drew surprised looks from everyone. “With that much time having passed, who knows where he could be by now? We need our resources here, keeping everyone safe.”
“You intend to call off the wedding?” he asked.
“No.” Her resolve was firm. “It’s the only hope we have of drawing Reinbeck out of the shadows. Signor Daephanté told us this was a personal vendetta, and now I understand why. ‘You have something of ours, so we took something of yours,’ remember? Reinbeck lost everything when my father threw him in the dungeons for treason. He wants revenge on my family, and there is no grander way to do it than at my wedding.”
Throne of Threats (Ducal Detective Mysteries Book 5) Page 14