Eventide (Meratis Trilogy Book 2) (23 page)

“Hey, marmish,” said Jeff.

The creature twirled in the water, flapping its fin-legs. The rat-fish was by far one of the weirdest things Jeff had come across in Andvell, but he had to admit it was cute.

“Trying to scare my pet again, Jeff?” Maggie’s skirts swished as she came into the room. Jeff jumped, startled, and spun around with his hand over his heart. When he saw she was laden with an armful of heavy books he stepped over to help. He took two and his arms strained under the weight.

“How the hell are you carrying all of these? What are you? Superwoman?”

“Mother of five,” Maggie replied. She dumped the books on the table and wiping her hands on her skirt. “What can I do for you?”

Jeff set his books next to the others. “I’m looking for Jasmine. Or Jayden. Or Brady.”

Maggie pouted. “But not me? I’m hurt.” She winked. “If you’re looking for them, my workshop is a strange place to be.”

“I can’t find them anywhere.”

The enchantress tapped her forefinger against her lower lip. “I think I saw Jayden disappear with Tanya—” the two exchanged a look of agreement that he’d be out of commission for a little while, “—Jasmine is probably hiding somewhere in the woods, shooting at trees to avoid dealing with her grief, and Brady is likely locked in his study working on his secret project.”

“That’s a wealth of information you have there. Nothing gets by you.”

“Mother of five,” Maggie repeated. She flipped open the book on the top pile and started going through the pages. Jeff grimaced at the smell, looking down to see a page covered in pressed maggots and blackened herbs.

“What secret project?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Brady. What is he working on?”

“If I knew that it wouldn’t be secret,” she said. “It’s been going on for about a month now. He locks himself in, sometimes for days.”

Jeff remembered Brady mentioning something that he’d been working on, something about ….

“He’s trying to learn how to communicate with Talfyr.”

Maggie’s eyebrow rose. “Really? That’s ambitious. I only know of a few accounts where—”

She cut herself off and held up a finger, gliding over to her bookshelves.

As she finger-walked through the volumes, Jeff noticed the weight she’d lost during their last crisis had filled in, her soft pudginess squeezed into her corset. Her blonde curls looked healthy, her skin peaches and cream—a vast improvement to the last time he’d seen her with lanky strands and a grey pallor. She’d taken good care of herself, which was more than he could say for the rest of them.

“Yep, all my reference books on the subject are gone,” Maggie determined once reaching the end of her shelf. “It’s not like I’m making use of them, but it would have been nice if he’d asked. I wish him the best of luck.”

“It’s not a dangerous secret project, is it? Nothing we need to be worried about with everything else?”

Maggie hauled out another book and added it to the pile on the table. “I shouldn’t think so. The reference books are full of accounts of people failing. And the few who succeeded seemed to come to no harm other than a reputation for talking to themselves. But Brady already has that.”

She gave him another wink, and then tripped, catching herself on the table before she fell. Jeff rushed to help her, but she waved him away, heel of her palm pressed against her temple.

“Well, that hasn’t happened in a while,” she said, easing onto the bench. “I forget sometimes that I’m not completely back to full strength.”

“Are you all right? Did you want me to go find Conrad?”

“My husband would just worry. No, I’m fine. The dizzy spell’s passed already.” She shook out her head. “So strange. It came out of nowhere.”

Jeff wanted to tell her not to push so hard, but he knew she didn’t take well to coddling.

She blew a slow breath between pursed lips and tried getting to her feet. “Maybe I’ll go lie down for a few minutes. Never a good idea casting magic when the world’s just fallen from beneath your feet. If you want to find Jasmine, I’d try the training yard first, but she usually finds it too busy.”

Jeff left Maggie to rest and went up the stairs towards the foyer, just in time to see Michael Dorning come down the stairs.

“Finally, someone who can do something,” Jeff said, approaching him. “Everyone’s MIA today.”

The soldier’s face contorted with confusion. “
Mecthai ib an
? Why is anyone practicing ceremonial sword stances?”

“Ah,” said Jeff, “Must mean something different here. I mean I can’t find anyone. I have—”

As he spoke, Jayden appeared down the corridor, whispering into the ear of the petite blonde serving girl, Tanya. She giggled at whatever he was saying, and when her eye fell on Jeff, she gave a little finger-wave.

Jayden followed the direction of her attention and pulled her closer. “Author,” he said. “Trying to steal my girl again?”

Jeff whipped his head around to make sure Cassie was nowhere in hearing range, and then approached. “Looking for you, actually. Hi, Tanya.”

She beamed at him, that suggestive look hiding behind long lashes. He swallowed and worked to stay focused.

“What’s going on?”

“Do you know where Harold is?”

“I haven’t seen him. Why?”

Jeff took a breath, looking from Jayden to Michael and back. “Because I think he’s trying to kill the queen.”

Chapter Fifteen

J
ayden sent Tanya back to work and strode up the stairs to the library, Jeff and Michael keeping pace behind him. He tried the door, and when he found that it was locked, pounded on it with his fist.

“Brady, open up. News.”

Nothing happened for a minute, and then the lock clicked, and the door slid open. Brady’s face appeared in the crack. His eyes were glazed, not quite seeing them.

“Let us in. What are you doing in there?”

“Meditating,” the scholar replied, sounding as zoned out as he looked.

Jayden grabbed the door and pushed it open, resting his hand on Brady’s shoulder and guiding him into one of the tall chairs. He sat down in the one across from him and said, “Sorry to interrupt, but Jeff has a theory. My sister is shirking her responsibilities yet again, so we need your input.”

“Hmm,” Brady replied. He opened and closed his eyes a few times, as though trying to blink and not really remembering how.

“Is he all right?” Michael asked, waving a hand in front of Brady’s face.

Jeff poured a glass of wine from the desk and handed it to him. “Maybe this will help bring you back to the world of the English speaking.”

Brady brought the glass to his lips and took a sip, holding the liquid in his mouth for a moment before swallowing. A few more times and his eyes cleared, his gaze focused on Jeff.

“What have you figured out?” he asked, apparently happy to carry on without any explanation.

“Venn talked,” Jeff said to the other three as he dropped down onto the sofa. “Turns out she knew where I was because she ‘overheard’ a conversation in the Queen’s Head a few nights before we got there. They knew we were on our way.”

“How is that possible?” Jayden asked. “It’s not like we announced our arrival with a parade.”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m a hot commodity!” Jeff stretched out his arms. “Andvell’s biggest celebrity. Everyone knows who I am.”

“You?” Jayden snorted.

Jeff dropped his arms by his sides. “As much as I’m hurt by your low opinion of me, I agree completely. It’s too convenient that the woman who’s been vocal in her desire to kill me happened to catch news that I’m back and coming right to her.”

“What’s the alternative? That someone rode from the palace in order to set it up? How would they know who she was? Where to find her?”

“Venn says she spends most of her time around the Queen’s Head. They give her the best deal on deer or something.”

“So it’d have to be someone as goes there regular,” Michael pointed out.

“Right,” Jeff agreed. “The queen just sent out five hundred scouts, so it’s not all that difficult to believe one of them detoured to the inn. But that’s not all. She couldn’t recognise the faces of anyone at the table, but she saw one of the guards had a shield. With a bear on it.”

He waited expectantly for the outburst of amazement, but Brady, Jayden, and Michael just stared.

“The bear,” Jeff prompted. “It had to be the black bear of Basten. Michael just told us the story the other day about that crest, how no one has the guts to show it in public anymore except one man.”

“You think Basten wants you dead?” Michael asked.

“I think he’s the source of the conspiracy.”

“And the conspirators want you dead?” asked Jayden.

“Yes. Well no. But it would be a diversion. Create the big disturbance so no one notices the coup.”

“And killing you would be a big enough disturbance?” Jayden’s incredulity would have hurt if Jeff didn’t feel that he was on to something.

“Well, I
am
the Creator. I know that doesn’t mean much for
you
, but other people may put more significance on it.”

“They wouldn’t,” Brady said, and Jeff bristled. Normally the scholar had a little more tact. But he didn’t seem to realise he’d said anything wrong, apparently stunned with a lightbulb of his own. “Raul.”

“Raul is the source of the conspiracy?” Jayden’s brow grew more creased as the conversation wound in on itself. “Can we start from the beginning? What are you two going on about? Are you saying it’s all connected?”

“Yes, I think that
is
what I’m saying.” Brady leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. His cheeks were flushed pink with the wine and excitement, his grey eyes bright. “I’m saying that whoever is trying to overthrow the queen had a hand in bringing Raul back to Andvell, hoping everyone would focus on him.”

“But why Raul? There had to be safer options. It’s not like he’d thank them for their services by leaving them to play monarch.”

“Think of the executives he seduced,” said Brady. “I’m sure they didn’t consider Raul’s tendency to drown cities with the blood of its people. They heard the promises and that was good enough.”

“Pity they won’t get to enjoy their throne for long.”

“Unless they manage to kill Raul before he kills them,” Michael piped up. “If it’s someone in the palace setting up this plot, they must have ambitions to bring the man down. Only an idiot would let him run rampant if they were trying to hold onto the throne.”

“That won’t help us narrow it down. Everyone wants him dead.”

“If Raul is the distraction, why get Venn to kill me?” Jeff asked, stuck on his own role in this convoluted mess. All of this confusion was why he never tried to write conspiracy thrillers. They twisted his brain into uncomfortable shapes.

“Because you
are
the Creator. Think of how much trouble you caused last time. People think you’re able to change what you don’t like. Even if that’s not true, it gives you power.”

“We never officially determined it’s not true,” Jeff reminded him.

“How long has it been since you wrote a word about us, but we’re still here,” Brady pointed out.

Michael watched the exchange like a tennis match, his head moving back and forth. Finally he held up a hand to stop them. “This is all too complex for me. Plus I think you’re moving in the wrong direction. No one’s more loyal to the queen than Basten. He’s the last man I’d suspect of wanting to get rid of her.”

“Only so long a man can be happy playing second fiddle when he once stood to conduct the entire orchestra,” Jeff said, feeling quite pleased with his metaphor.

“I still don’t buy it. Why would Harold tell us about the conspiracy in the first place if he was involved?”

Jeff shrugged. “To throw us off? You have ears everywhere, too, Captain. Had you ever heard of any conspiracy plot?”

“No,” Michael admitted. “But that doesn’t mean much. My reach is nothing compared to the first counsellor’s.”

“Why send Harold with us at all?” Jayden posed, forming his thoughts slowly. “Why not trust you to bring the horses back when we were done?”

“Which brings me back to my original question: where the hell is Harold? Has anyone seen him since yesterday?”

Each man shook his head.

“He could have run home. Afraid of what Venn would tell us if she started talking.”

“There’s one way to know for sure,” Brady said, getting to his feet. The other men stared at him without moving. He sighed. “He couldn’t exactly go home without all the horses, could he?”

“You lads check the stables,” said Michael. “I’m going to go update Darcy. If I can find that boy of mine.” His knees creaked as he stood up. “I’m getting too old for all this excitement, I think. Maybe I should have sat this one out.”

He didn’t wait for any sort of encouragement or disagreement before he left the room.