The King's Messenger

Chapter 21

Eden returned to his room in a sullen mood. With no other information, all he could do was order Torre to get rid of Everyn Mast, the cook. Vestenet's suicide was inordinately inconvenient. While Eden knew there were more spies in the palace than just Vestenet's, the key difference between Vestenet and the other nobles was that Vestenet had tried to kill him.

To Eden, the suicide seemed odd. Vestenet had tried to kill Eden over Messenger's exploits with the indentures, assumedly; this was a man who would sell people for profit, and did so gladly. Given that his execution had been stayed, Eden would have thought that Vestenet would be striving to find corruption to exploit with bribes to get himself out of the noose. It didn't make sense for a man so greedy to end himself when such potential for escape existed. Had Eden misread him?
Of course not. The thought was laughable, really; Vestenet wasn't the man to take his own life, especially when he could have paid his way to safety. No, it wasn't a suicide, which begged the question, who killed Vestenet?

It was possible that someone who worked for him, a servant or guard, had silenced him to conceal the involvement of any other in his network. Having said that, it would be uncommon for an underling to take out the mastermind, even if the mastermind had been caught and exposed.

Another alternative was that Vestenet was working with someone else, either as a partner or as an underling himself. That, in turn, begged the question of who he could be working with.

If that were the case, Eden was shit out of luck. He at least had a lead for a servant who might have orchestrated Vestenet's death, but he had no clue of who Vestenet could be working with. He'd thought Eirrich suspicious previously, but Eden was thoroughly convinced of his innocence.

It was fortunate, then, that Eden had just come across a spy. He called for Kaeda, who came to his door looking slightly overwhelmed, bringing a scent of mixed herbs with her.

"How's your new job?" Eden greeted her.

Kaeda smoothed her skirt self-consciously. "I can't say I'm overly fond of it, Your Highness. It's a far cry from my apothecary."

"Right, your apothecary. I see you've brought much of it with you," Eden noted.

Kaeda shrugged. "It never hurts to keep herbs and treatments with you."

"That's true." Eden paused. Time to cut to the point. "I believe Vestenet wasn't working alone. See if you can find out if Vestenet had anyone who might have conspired with him."

"Do you have anyone in mind? I could use a lead," Kaeda asked.

Eden raised his eyebrows at her. "You're the spy; find your own lead."

Kaeda gave him a flat stare.

"In truth, I don't know the court relationships too well. From what I remember, the former Lord Charere worked with Lord Vestenet, but I believe the new one is cleared of suspicion," Eden admitted. Even if his altruistic speeches were an act, the way he looked upon Eden with contempt hadn't been. "Other than that... as I said, you're on your own."

"I see. I'll see what I can find, Your Highness," Kaeda said.

"Good." With little else to say, Kaeda departed.

Eden caught Adrian at dinner, inviting him, somewhat controversially, to dine near him. Lord Charere wasn't at dinner, disappointingly; Eden had hoped to corner him during the meal.

"Have you any idea where Lord Charere is?" Eden asked Adrian. "I've been wanting to speak to him all day."

"You want to talk to Janke?" Adrian asked.