Mermaid Tear (The Fated #2)

38 | Discoveries

One week ago

The sparring matches were as tiring as Kain anticipated.

Blood pebbled along the thin gash that traveled down his arm, before running into the thin fabric of his pristine sleeve. He silently cursed and picked at the fabric, hoping to keep it from staining further.

"That was a wonderful match, Your Highness."

His hand tightened around the hilt of his borrowed sword, but somehow Kain kept the reflexive tension from his face as he refocused on the group in front of him. Sir Keahi, a towering blond man, wore a beaming smile. It seemed odd, given the blood traveling from his temple, and the nearby squire fussily urging him to sit.

"I had heard that Sir Artemios was among the best, but still didn't expect someone with your history would be so skilled," the knight continued.

He dropped into a deep bow, sending his squire into a panic. "Sir, that's--"

"Forgive my ignorance!"

Kain wasn't sure whether to be insulted, or flattered. He settled for somewhere in the middle as he raised a hand to rub at his hair. "You're fine, Sir. I wouldn't have expected much out of myself either."

The knight straightened, looking like he would draw the conversation out further. However, something about the movement and the bloodloss must have gotten to him, because he nearly toppled over before a word could be said. With another loud, scolding call of 'Sir,' the squire finally managed to convince her knight to leave the training field. Before Kain could do the same, Lyre approached with a clean cloth laid over his arm.

"For you, Milord," the servant offered.

Kain smiled gratefully as he used the towel on his face. Whether he was a spy planted by Alekos or not, at least Lyre was good at reading the room. He hadn't started calling Kain 'Your Highness' like some sort of prince.

"There's no one after this, right?" Kain questioned.

"The only official meeting today was your breakfast with His Majesty," Lyre confirmed.

Kain held back a grimace at the memory. Alekos had spent the entire meal bragging about the quality of his knights. It hadn't been a baseless boast--Sir Keahi had drawn blood at the end--but had made for an extremely tiring first meal. Still, at least the early finish to his day meant a chance to join the others in the archive for their fifth day of searching.

He had been forced by circumstance to skip the fourth day--much to Kain's annoyance. Alekos had requested that one of his aides give Kain, Melitta, and Callias a thorough tour of the palace. It would have been fine if thorough had included the back corridors and anything that might give them a clearer idea of the palace's exact layout--but instead, they'd received a "thrilling" tour of each garden and artifact room.

Upon returning late into the evening, Rhode had disappointingly shared that while they had managed to uncover many of Alekos' personal journals, there were countless wrinkled and illegible pages in the last, and most important, of the books. They looked as if something had spilled over the top and despite an obvious effort to dry them out, the damage had been done.

Kain couldn't help but be suspicious that the damage was purposeful. If Alekos had been careless with his personal items, there should have been some wear on the others. But, they were near pristine despite their age. Which meant the king was careful.

So how was it that his personal recollection of the days leading up to his death had been ruined?

He could only hope that their recent search had been more fruitful. Just the thought alone made him hurry through cleaning up in his quarters, before stepping into the hall. His haste died, however, as he reached the floor beneath theirs and two voices captured his attention. They drifted through the closed door just barely loud enough for his enhanced hearing to pick up on.