Then why did she feel as if someone had taken her heart and trampled it?
“Jax, it wasn’t anything. We just shared a drink…”
“And then a bed,” she said, with a bitterness she wanted to keep buried.
“No! Not in the way you think.” He moved closer to her, his hands twitching at his sides, as if he wanted to reach out and console her. “She…she’s incredibly insightful. Sabine got me to open up about some things I’ve kept buried for a long time.”
She wanted to roll her eyes at his lame defense, but the truthful sorrow in his gaze stole her breath. What had George and Sabine talked about that affected him so?
“It probably had to do with the amount of wine she had on hand.” He sheepishly rubbed his neck. “I fell asleep, passed right out on the sofa in her sitting room. When I woke in the morning, I was horrified. I’d let my guard down. I’d failed in my duty to protect you.”
“Goodness, George, you are allowed to have a life once in a while.”
He reached out, cupping her chin in his strong hand. “Not at the expense of leaving you to fend for yourself in this foreign castle. I’m sorry, Duchess.”
His touch made her tremble, and she backed away from him, all too aware of the strange sensation spreading from her chest. “Nothing to be sorry for, Captain,” she said, jumbling her words as they rushed past her lips.
Something glimmered in his chocolate eyes, then dimmed. “Well, at least we’ve erased two suspects off your list.”
Jax nodded, hurriedly trying to regain her speech. “I suppose so.” But her mind kept replaying George confession. “Sabine got me to open up about some things I’ve kept buried for a long time.” Jealousy reared its ugly head in her brain. What had George kept buried? Why had he readily shared it with Sabine and not her? “George, how much would you say Sabine had to drink while you were with her?”
“Well, uh…I really don’t remember.” He scratched his head. “The wine was quite strong, you know. I mean, it knocked me right out after a few glasses.”
“Was she keeping pace with you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Jax, what are you getting at?”
“What if she drugged you to have an alibi?” she blurted out. “Sabine gets you drunk, you fall asleep, and then she goes after Philippe and comes back, with you all but dead to the world. You wake up in the morning, think you’ve both been there all night, and a solid alibi is formed.”
George stood silent, his hands in his pockets. “It’s plausible.” Despite his admission, his wrinkled forehead expressed his doubt.
“You see Lady Astrid’s rose handkerchiefs in Sabine’s room and hours later, one is discovered stuffed inside the mouth of a dead body. It can’t be coincidence! Come on,” Jax beckoned as she moved across the room. “I told Ivan I would meet him outside Duke Pettraud’s study before going to question Sabine.”
George diligently followed her, although she couldn’t help but notice how he dragged his feet.
They had nearly reached the entryway of the palace’s guest wing when Perry’s figure appeared at the end of the hall. Spotting them, he hastened his pace and quickly arrived at Jax’s side. “There you are! I just ran into Ivan, and when I saw you weren’t with him...” Perry paused, catching his breath. He must have run from the other side of the castle, based on how winded he was. “I don’t like you wandering around this place alone.”
“She wasn’t alone,” George reassured him. “Ivan escorted her back to the guest wing, and I took over from there.”
Perry’s lips pressed in a thin line.
“Darling,” Jax said, pushing back his unruly curls, “George has provided a solid alibi for the entire evening. You can put aside your suspicions.”
“Oh?” Perry’s eyes narrowed. “And what alibi is that?”
“After Sabine patched up his forehead, George had a bit too much to drink trying to ease the pain, and fell asleep in Sabine’s sitting room,” Jax explained matter-of-factly, hoping to put the whole ordeal to bed.
Speechless for only a moment, a devious smile surprisingly stretched across Perry’s face. “Sabine’s room, eh? I see.” He nudged George’s arm with a balled fist. “Why didn’t you say something earlier? All your caginess made me think you actually did something.”
George’s tense shoulders visibly relaxed, but Jax could see he was still on edge around her husband. “It was unprofessional of me to let the wine go to my head.”
“I’m sure that’s all that sidetracked you.” Perry gave the Captain a caddish wink that made Jax balk in disgust.
“Perry, what has gotten into you?” she snapped, stomping her foot. “First, you make outrageous claims about my most trusted friend and now, you’re acting so…so coarse. I can hardly keep up with your changing behavior.” She didn’t care that she was airing their dirty laundry for any passersby to hear. At the moment she could hardly stand the sight of her husband.
Whether it was the revulsion in her eyes or the incredulity in her words, Perry stilled under her gaze. George, looking like he wanted to melt into the floor, backed away to give them some privacy. She wished for a moment she could join him.
“Virtues,” Perry said after a few moments. “I thought I might have gotten over it, but it seems inescapable.” He clawed at his chin with aggressive strokes. “This place. The effect it has on me. I feel like I’m reverting back to how I was before I met you.”
“Before?” Jax wrinkled her nose.
A torrent of anxiety brewed in his lavender gaze. “Lost, confused, bitter. Acting out in the wake of my mother’s death.” He sighed. “I don’t know where I fit in here anymore. I see my brothers together, Pettraud through-and-through, but I don’t see that in myself. I never have.” Perry hung his head, pressing his cheek against the calming touch of her offered palm. “I sometimes don’t see myself as Saphirian, either. I look at you and George, and everything you’ve shared, and I know I will never have that, that sense of devotion to a place, a people.” Tears ringed his eyes at his admission. “I feel it, a hole inside me, knowing there’s a piece of my own identity missing. I thought maybe I’d begun to fill that hole with our life together, but being back here, it just makes me realize how lost I still am in this world.”
She wrapped her arms around his muscled frame, pulling him close. His face pressed into her hair, hot tears dripping off his nose and onto her neck. “I’m sorry, my love. I had no idea you felt so alone.”
“Not alone,” he murmured. He pushed away from her, holding her gaze. “I know I am not alone. I have you. But there is something missing inside me, making me incomplete, I suppose.” Weariness settled across his features. “That sense of connection, of belonging. A purpose. When you told me before we left the Oasis that you wanted me to rule Saphire should something happen to you, it rattled me more than I let on. Saphire is your home, not mine. What right do I have to its throne?”
Jax’s chest grew heavy. She had not been expecting this. She could clearly see how distraught he was, how it was affecting his behavior. Of course he would have reservations about leading her duchy. She didn’t blame her husband for second-guessing his ability to lead, but hadn’t he had an inkling of what might be expected from him, marrying a Duchess? “Perry, I realize it is a large burden to bear, and while I pray the situation never arises, you’re the only person I can count on. You are my husband.”
His gaze dropped to the floor in shame. “I know, my love…It’s hard to convey how this all makes me feel to someone who’s always had a destiny laid out for her.”
He had a point. She’d known from the day of her first memory who she was and what she was destined to do. Even as the son of a Duke, Perry had never had that. His older brothers all seemed so self-assured in their roles, carving out their own space behind castle walls, but not Perry. Watching him interact with his brothers, she could see he was adrift, as his mother was the only steadying force in his life. With her gone, Jax could only imagine how unsure he was of his fo
oting.
“What can I do to help you, Perry?” She didn’t know, so she had to ask.
He took her hands in his, his massaging thumbs sending a tingle to her spine. “Just give me your forgiveness, please. I know I’ve stepped out of line more than once. Perhaps now, you understand why.”
“You have it, dearest. Always.” She raised his hands to her lips and kissed each one with deep reverence.
“You’re not the only person I need to ask that of,” Perry drawled with a slight smirk, a glimmer of his old self emerging. “George? I know you can’t be that far away.”
The Captain appeared from an adjoining hallway, a bashful smile etched across his face.
Perry shuffled his feet. “Not sure how much you heard just now.”
“Enough to forgive and forget, my friend.” George held out his hand in offering.
Perry reached out and shook it firmly. “I’ll admit, what’s happened to Philippe has disturbed me more than I thought possible. It’s no secret he wasn’t my favorite person, but he always seemed so untouchable. Like nothing could get in his way.”
“When you ran into Ivan just now, did he say anything?” Jax asked, content to return to the matters at hand.
“Not about Philippe, no. He was looking for Sabine.”
Jax raised an eyebrow at George. “I wonder if he came across something.”
“What do you mean?” Perry asked.
In hushed tones, Jax and George filled Perry in on all he had missed as the three of them made their way to the Duke’s study.
“Ivan and I found one of Lady Astrid’s handkerchiefs stuffed in Philippe’s mouth, and George recalls seeing a few of them in Sabine’s quarters,” Jax concluded just as they arrived in front of the study doors.
Perry sputtered air from his lips. “I have a hard time believing Sabine could do something so diabolical.”
Jax’s nose reflexively pinched in annoyance at his defense of the young woman. “Well, right now, the evidence points toward her, so it would be remiss not to question her, simply because some of us have a hard time believing she could be a killer.”
Perry’s eyebrows shot upward, and he glanced at George. Neither dared voice what they were thinking.
Ivan’s figure at the end of the hall diverted her train of thought. “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting, Duchess.” He stopped outside the study, greeting George and Perry. “I see you’ve assembled the troops. But before we begin, I wanted to inform you that I’ve just had a raven from the capital city guards. Your friends should be arriving within the hour.”
In all the commotion, Jax had completely forgotten Uma, Hendrie, and Vita were supposed to be arriving at the castle today. “Some good news at last.” She beamed. It would be wonderful to all be together again. Perhaps they could help her wade through the messy events surrounding Philippe’s death.
Chapter Sixteen
“Why don’t we speak with Sabine before they arrive?” Ivan suggested. “Lenora told me she feeds her mother an early lunch right around now.”
He led them through a series of passageways that Jax hadn’t encountered yet during her visit. Somehow, they ended up at the guarded entrance to the royal tower. Constantly surprised by how such a massive structure could be carved into a cliffside, Jax’s admiration of her surroundings kept her mind occupied until they arrived in a brightly lit corridor.
“Sabine complains we keep the palace too dark, so she rebels by ensuring her lamps are always burning in her corner of the ducal wing,” Ivan said with a chuckle. He rapped against one of the doors lining the hallway. “This is her mother’s suite,” he whispered, stepping back as the door swung outward.
“Ivan! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Sabine gushed. Then she noticed the trio standing behind him. “Duchess? Hello, Perry…George.” Her demure smile widened. “So good to see you all. I missed you at breakfast.”
Her cheery disposition seemed forced as she ushered them inside the small, cozy sitting room. A blazing fire roared in the small hearth, cocooning the space in immense heat. “I’m sorry if it’s a bit uncomfortable in here. The warm air helps with Mother’s cold chills,” she explained. “If it’s too much, I’ll just finish feeding Mother and meet you across the hall.”
Not wanting to deny a sick woman her meal, Jax took the lead by backing out of the room, letting her keen eyes do a quick sweep. She didn’t spot a kerchief anywhere.
They had situated themselves in a small tearoom when Sabine appeared at the door, wiping sweat from her brow. “Can I get you anything?” She moved to the kettle whistling over the small fireplace.
“We’re fine for now,” Ivan answered for all of them. “Sabine, could you relay your movements from last night?”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Well, that’s a silly question. Whatever for?”
Ivan frowned at her innocent expression. “There was an incident around midnight, and as Captain of the Ducal Guard, I’m just doing some factfinding.”
Sabine saw right through Ivan’s effortless lie. “With the Duchess of Saphire by your side?” She folded her arms, a groomed eyebrow raised. “I’ve heard the stories about you, Jax. Tell me, who’s been found dead?”
Her candor made Jax flinch. It did not bode well for her in the political arena to have people think every time she showed up somewhere, someone else ended up losing their life.
Ivan clenched his teeth. “Please, Sabine, answer my question.”
“Well,” she drawled, her gaze hesitantly flicking to George, “after the brawl at dinner, I escorted Captain Solomon to my quarters to be patched up. I think one of Philippe’s rings must have taken a chunk of the Captain with it. It was quite nasty. I gave him some alcolite to dull the pain—”
“Alcolite?” George interrupted. “I thought you opened a bottle of wine?”
Sabine’s ethereal locks swung over her shoulders as she shook her head. “Goodness, no. It would have taken too long for wine to dull the pain. I needed to stitch you up quickly, before you lost too much blood.”
“Stitches?” Confusion blanketed his expression as George reached for the bandage plastered to his forehead.
“Ten of them. It was a nasty mark.” Sabine shivered. “So, as I was saying, I gave him some alcolite to dull the pain—”
Jax interrupted the young woman this time. “What’s alcolite?”
“It’s a very powerful painkiller made from fermented herbs,” Sabine explained. “I gave him some and stitched him up.” Her cheeks blossomed a perfect shade of pink that Jax could only ever attain with rouge. “I think I gave him too much, though. Lenora just started teaching me about proper dosages, so I may have been a bit flustered, trying to figure out the right amount. He was in no shape to walk, so I just sat with him on the couch until it wore off. Only, he fell asleep and didn’t leave until morning.” Sabine flashed an apologetic smile George’s way.
Jax shared a concerned look with Perry. The version of events George gave them was very different from how Sabine described it. Jax didn’t know if she should be relieved that George had been accidentally drugged into spilling his secrets, or if there was something more nefarious going on.
Based on the furrows across George’s forehead, he, too, was having a hard time reconciling his experience with what had just been described.
Ivan continued with his questioning. “What time did Captain Solomon fall asleep?”
Sabine hemmed and hawed for a moment before answering. “I’d say probably around ten-thirty. It took me a while to stitch him up, and then once he fell asleep, it took me another hour or so to clean everything up.”
“Clean what up?” Jax asked.
Sabine’s expression told her the answer should be obvious. “All the blood.”
Jax puzzled over the comment. Was there really that much blood from a head wound? It didn’t make sense. When they’d run into George this morning, on his way back from Sabine’s room, his shirt had been bloody, but certainly not enough to warrant an ho
ur’s cleanup, as Sabine had stated.
“Excuse me, but where is the nearest washroom?” Jax stood, looking expectantly from Ivan to Sabine.
“Down the hall and to the right, Duchess. It’s attached to my bedroom,” Sabine said.
Jax gathered her skirts, discreetly signaling George to follow her. “Stay here and see if Sabine’s attitude changes once I leave the room,” Jax whispered in Perry’s ear as she planted a kiss on his cheek for effect.
He bobbed his head once, indicating he understood her request.
Jax and George hurried out of the room and down the hallway, away from any listening ears.
“I know the taste of alcolite, and that’s not what she gave me,” George growled. “She’s lying, but I can’t figure out why.”
“Because she’s covering up murdering the Crown Prince?” Jax responded with an eye roll. “She gave you an alibi, George, but didn’t create a very strong one for herself.”
A dark chuckle tumbled out of his mouth. “I haven’t seen the body yet, but you said the knife was in Philippe’s back.”
“That’s right.” Jax nodded. “Nearly up to the hilt.”
“Do you honestly think that tiny little girl, whose arms are the size of bird legs, could drive a knife all the way into a grown man’s back?”
She’d been preparing a snappy retort, but the reality of his words sank into her consciousness. “I suppose it’s unlikely,” she admitted with a frown. Jax stood several inches taller than Sabine and was quite athletic, and even she wasn’t sure she’d have the physical strength to plunge a dagger up to its hilt in flesh.
“So, it begs the question, what is she hiding?” George circled back to his original statement.
Jax tapped her chin in thought. “She emphasized the amount of blood that came from your cut. But when I saw you this morning, there wasn’t a great deal on your shirt.”
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