Shadows Bleed

XVIII

XVIII

"Do we know who he was?" I asked, walking into Vaskarth's study the morning after the party.

"Not a clue. He's a ghost. A professional with no outside ties," he answered, shaking his head in defeat. "We've got no leads at all. It would've helped if you'd kept him alive."

I scowled, a growl rising and dying in my throat, at the insinuation. But he was right. I allowed rage to take over and had slain our only suspect.

"Could it have been Baron Teirsan?" I asked, spreading my hands with a shrug.

"No. He's been planning a coup for months. He's too careful to attempt something like this."

"Without intending offense my Lord," I cut in. "This doesn't seem a last-minute contrivance, rather a thoroughly well-prepared one."

"It does. But it's not the Baron's style," he countered. "I just can't figure out who else wanted the High Chancellor dead."

"In that case, might I be so bold as to make a suggestion?" I placed my hands behind my back, steeling myself to accuse my mentor's wife.

"Please, by all means."

"You may not want to hear it," I warned. At his urging, I continued. "Have you considered your wife, Lady Marion? Yennyfer is convinced she is behind it."

Furrowed brows and a frown darkened his countenance, causing my stomach to churn.

"You've gall to suggest such a thing," he said, lightening visibly before speaking again. "It is, however, plausible. My wife does has more reason than most to hate Isolde. I will follow this through. In the meantime, I want you to prepare for our trip to Thyssia tonight."

"We're still going?" I wondered aloud, having presumed that, in light of the previous night's murder, the plan would be off. "But the High Chancellor is dead."

"This may be, yet the Baron still remains a threat," Vaskarth insisted.

"To what?" I blurted out before recalling my sense of propriety.

"That is not your concern," he said, more admonition than advice. He handed me a slip of paper. "Here is what I want you to do before we leave tonight. I expect you to be waiting by the door at precisely the twenty-first hour."

"I understand," I bowed respectfully, took the list and left.

***

Scanning my eyes over the list, determining the best way to go about my tasks for the day, I left Vaskarth's study and immediately bumped into Yennyfer.

"Where are you off to?" she asked with a smile, a rare thing for her, I'd been told.

"Oh. I've a number of items to gather for your father," I answered evasively, folding the list and tucking it into my clothes.

"Can I help?" she asked. The gleam in her eyes was not unlike her step-mother's. She knew I was withholding information.

"Actually," I struggled to summon an adequate excuse. "I was going to go for a stroll first, if you'd like to accompany me?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

The sigh I so desperately wanted to release died on my lips with a smile. I headed for the garden, Yennyfer oddly chatty beside me. She conveyed rather dull information, most about her studies or hobbies, things to which I struggled to relate. When we were deeper into the gardens, a length of time having passed, her tone took a tone reminiscent of gossiping girls.