Page 22 of Decoy
He smirked. “I’m sure you do.” He leaned towards my ear to whisper in a voice quiet enough to prevent my trailing guard from overhearing. “Did you suspect I’d murder you amongst the bookshelves?”
“Of course not.” But my wavering voice betrayed the lie. “I’m simply in a rush to prepare for tonight. Will you be in attendance?”Please say no.
“Certainly, especially when I know my absence will only disappoint you. You can trust me, should you need an ally.”
He was the last man I would ever trust. For all the motives I’d uncovered concerning the other kingdoms, they remained as mere words on a page, but he’d given me ample reason to be suspicious of him. Even if he wasn’t after the princess’s life, his habit of slinking through the darkness was evidence enough he was aftersomething.
Whatever it was, I’d be sure to uncover it.
* * *
I casually pausedoutside Lord Luke’s guest room and pressed my ear against the door, a precaution in case the room’s occupant was no longer in the parlor mingling with the court where I’d last seen him. I hoped his diversion would at least give me time to investigate.
The door muffled all sound, forcing me to take a calculated risk. I fiddled with the knob to find it locked. Unsurprising. It appeared entering would require a more exhilarating method. Excellent.
I counted the doors lining the corridor before returning to my room to slip out the window. It was considerably riskier climbing onto the roof in the daylight, but few guards strolled the grounds at this side behind the palace. I crossed to the section of the palace above the guest rooms before carefully counting the windows to the fourth one, which led to Lord Luke’s chambers.
This too was locked, but it was easier to manage than the one on his door. I balanced on the sill, and after a bit of maneuvering with a hairpin it clicked open, allowing me to slide soundlessly inside. I eagerly took in my enemy’s chambers. I half expected to find obvious signs validating my distrust, but the room was clean and sparse of anything even remotely suspicious.
I wasn’t entirely certain what I was looking for—my stolen dagger, for one, along with whatever secrets I could uncover, preferably damning evidence such as encrypted communication from whoever had given him his assignment so I could determine a motive for my murder or, if my death wasn’t what he sought, information regarding what he was after instead.
But I found nothing out of the ordinary, nor could I detect any hints as to the man’s personality, as if every clue of his true self had been stripped away, leaving the only trait I could determine with any accuracy being the pleasure he took in aggravating me. Unsurprising, considering a man of his skillset wouldn’t be foolish enough to leave anything of any real importance for an intruder to easily uncover, but I was disappointed all the same.
The only personal effect I found was a book of pressed flowers in the nightstand drawer that also contained many notes written in childish scrawl addressed tothe best big brother in the world. Blast it all, the man was a doting brother who cherished each token he received from his beloved sibling, as if I needed another reason to have to resist finding him endearing.
I stilled at the sudden sound of footsteps in the corridor. I held my breath and listened. They paused directly outside the door, followed by a key scraping the lock. I ran on quiet tiptoe to the window and had barely slipped through and edged along the wall and out of sight when the door opened.
I waited with bated breath, stretching my hearing to search inside his room. There was only heavy silence, giving me reason to wonder if Lord Luke remained at the threshold, as if he’d noticed something suspicious. He’d likely investigate, leaving me little time.
I climbed onto the roof with as quiet movements as possible and lay flat on my stomach, where I waited. He spent the longest time whistling near the window but didn’t come after me, giving me hope that perhaps I’d evaded suspicion, but I didn’t want to underestimate my enemy, so I remained still a bit longer until the hour drew later, bidding me to finally stir and creep back to my own window so I could prepare for this evening’s tea.
After I’d suffered through the tedious ministrations of my maids, a guard escorted me to the parlor, where several tea tables had been arranged and the court mingled in their finery.
My gaze was immediately drawn to Lord Luke, standing on the other side of the room. I searched for any sign he’d discovered my presence in his room, but when our eyes briefly met his expression remained impassive, leading me to hope that my snooping remained undetected.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t rid myself of the man so easily. No matter whom I mingled with to drop hints to various royals about places where I’d later be, he seemed to be constantly near—not overtly watching me, but I sensed his attention nonetheless. When the time came for us to take our seats, he settled in the one beside me.
I immediately stiffened. “That’s not your seat.” Not the most polite of greetings, but I was too startled to pretend.
“Oh?” He lifted the card marking the place eye level to study it with exaggerated concentration. “This confirms that this seat has been assigned to Lord Luke, son of the Duke of Rosewood. Charming fellow, dashingly handsome. I’m sure the two of you will get along splendidly.”
“What?” I snatched the card. Sure enough, his name was written in a cursive far too neat for how unsettled his presence had the habit of making me.
“I knew you’d be pleasantly surprised.”
I continued to stare in disbelief. When I’d assisted in the preparations earlier, I’d made absolute certain Lord Luke didn’t sit anywhere near me, feeling it wise to maintain as much distance as possible to conduct my investigations until I was more certain who exactly I was up against.
So much for that strategy. I sighed. “That was Princess Liliana’s assigned seat. If you call yourself a gentleman, you’ll be so good as to—”
“Oh, I don’t mind if he sits there.” Princess Liliana passed with a knowing smile, seeming as pleased by Lord Luke’s attentions towards me as if they’d been bestowed upon her. “I’m happy to take my place with Princess Collette. Please enjoy your current company without giving me any further thought.”
Ignoring my eyes rounded in silent pleading, she took her leave for the other end of the table, abandoning me to the scoundrel’s mercies. Though I’d lost my opportunity to use this meal to learn more about her kingdom’s potential motives for murdering the princess, her betrayal still caused her to immediately rise on my list of suspects.
Traitor.
I might be forced to sit with Lord Luke, but I had no obligation to humor him any further. I did my best to ignore him and instead spoke with Their Majesties sitting on my other side, followed by engaging in small talk with the others around the table, all shallow conversations considering Lord Luke’s listening presence prevented me from delving much deeper.
When I couldn’t put off his staring any longer, I finally met his gaze, studying me with far too much amusement for my liking. “Explain.”
