Heir Apparent

Chapter 14

"I thought there might be something here in these old scrolls."

He looked around. "About what, little Thea?"

I hated how he called me that: little Thea. I grated on my insides. Jade, however misguided in her trust, had at least treated me with respect. She thought I was just her servant girl and still she gave me some sense of worth. For all my efforts to destroy her and her family, I would always remember how she treated me.

"The Hired Hands. Anything really. Grasping at straw." I shrugged.

The shaggy haired knight held up the scroll he had retrieved. "This isn't about the Hired Hands. This is about the Scourge."

So he was getting smarter. "Hence why I discarded it."

His lips pursed into a straight line, a look I was seeing more and more on his otherwise handsome face. Why Jade had ever dismissed him as a lover was beyond me. He was a tiresome fool in many ways that knights were: proud, self-righteous, but since her disappearance, there was a darkness I could see leaking through the cracks in his armor. A darkness, I imagined, Jade very much did not like. She was all golden light and he was simmering blackness. No wonder they were a force on the battlefield; there was no hiding in the light or the dark.

"You won't find the Hired Hands in any pages here."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why not?"

"They are shadows and dust. Their assassins have marked history but will never make their way to its pages. That's the whole point of them. Jade was a fool to even go to them." Pain flickered through his eyes. He didn't really think she was a fool, just a fool for not taking him. On that, I could agree.

"We'll find her, Commander Gilead." Perhaps not alive, if I had my way, but nonetheless, we would. I could confidently promise that I would bring Jade back to him, though I was beginning to suspect that I would have to rid myself of Gil in the process. Reunite him with his former lover. I had hoped to find a use for him, alive, but like the Empress-Mother, it was becoming clear that such a thing would be a danger to my claim.

He nodded, unconvinced to me, before holding out the scroll for me to take. "I was sent to bring you to the Empress-Mother."

That was surprising. I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

He bristled when I didn't immediately move. Remembering that little Thea was an obedient girl, I hopped up, quickly capping the candle. "Right. Lead on, Commander."

Gil eyed the pile of books and scrolls as I danced through them to join his side. I could practically see the cogs turning in his mind. Somehow I would need to clean up my mess before the wayward knight found his way back here. Business with the Empress-Mother would certainly hinder that, but for now, I would need to keep up my appearance and go along with the knight.

"You look tired." I mused beside him as we walked through the corridors, leaving the public life of the Capital behind.

"Isn't that kind of you to say?" He quipped, though the edge in his voice dull any humour he might have had.

I shrugged, the picture of kindness. "Just concerned."

Gil kept his gaze ahead. "You don't need to be."

"Right," I nodded, keeping pace but letting the silence linger for a few moments. "Jade might not approve of why you are so tired."

That got his attention. His eyes snapped toward me. "Jade isn't here."

It took everything to keep the pleased smirk off my lips. "But she will be. Perhaps maybe you shouldn't-"

"I will deal with whatever punishment she deems fit when she returns. Until then, stick to your own work."