Page 75 of Sword & Sacrifice

Silas silently waited.

“The morning the Arnsveldian army … arrived. I met him in the hallway outside of the Treasury offices. You had—I mean, Varro had called me in to discuss King Archer’s approach and how to confront him.”

Silas’ quill scratched a too-long line over the parchment. “Why did Varro want your opinion?” He’d never asked why she was standing on the steps with Varro that day—too many other things had been on his mind.

“The people recognize me,” she replied. “He said if I stood with him, they would put more faith in his words. At the time, I didn’t know he was …”

“Impersonating me and purposefully inciting a war,” Silas finished.

She nodded. “I apologize—”

Silas held up a hand, cutting her off. “You’ve already apologized for your unwitting part in their schemes. Let’s focus on the current issues. So, you haven’t seen Jacoby at all since the battle in the courtyard?”

“No, sir, if I had, I would have reported to you immediately.”

“Do you have any information that may help us? Anyone acting suspiciously in the past few weeks?”

She sighed, her shoulders drooping in exhaustion. “Sir, between your disappearance, the war, and the fire, everyone has been on edge for the past several months.”

“Fair point.” Silas set his quill down and stood up, and Mirinda followed suit. “A guard will escort you back to the inn and stay with you for the next few days. If you think of anything else, please tell me right away.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Once she left, Silas leaned against the doorframe and sighed. He hoped whatever tentative rapport they’d built in the last few weeks hadn’t degraded with every question. But it didn’t matter. He’d told Griselda he would handle the interrogations, and he meant it.

“Who would you like to speak to next, Your Majesty?” one of the guards asked.

Murder investigations didn’t stop just because the sun went down. Silas rubbed a hand down his face, trying to wipe away the exhaustion. “Juniper,” he decided. The guard started to turn away, but Silas stopped them. “Any updates on the body?”

“Nothing solid, sir,” the guard replied. “General Griselda still questions the identity of the victim.”

Silas grimaced. While part of him was hurt that Griselda doubted him, the rest understood her caution. After all, the ring could have been planted on the corpse so Jacoby could fake his own death rather than live as a traitor with a bounty on his head.

“The body is too decomposed for traditional identification, but a healer could potentially identify it through magic. Unfortunately, the only healer the general trusts is in Arnsveld.”

At the mention of Adelaide, Silas flinched. He’d almost forgotten about her order amongst all the other chaos. “Have the search parties found any signs of Emmaline yet?” He’d expected some news by now and a restlessness twitched in his muscles at the thought of her somewhere out there, alone and afraid.

“Still nothing on the roads or in the nearby towns.”

“Let me know immediately if you find any signs of her.”

The guard bowed their head, then walked off to fetch Juniper. Less than ten minutes later, they guided Juniper into the office.

“Your Majesty,” she greeted, no energy in her voice. Her auburn hair hung in messy strands around her shoulders and puffy, dark marks circled her eyes. Manacles bound her hands in front of her, but her brown wrists didn’t appear bruised or abraded, so the cuffs had likely been removed during the long hours of waiting and only replaced for her interrogation.

Again, Silas’ instinct was to apologize for her treatment, but for now he swallowed it down. “I have a few questions for you, Juniper.”

A muscle ticked in her jaw. “I didn’t kill anyone and stuff their body into the Vault.”

Silas cleared his throat awkwardly. He didn’t know how to acknowledge that statement without accidentally conveying absolution or forgiveness, so he jumped straight into his questions. “Do you know anything about the body?”

She took a deep breath to settle herself and answered steadily, “No, sir.”

“Do you have a copy of the Vault key?”

“No, sir, only Jac—the Treasurer had a key.”

“Have you ever borrowed the key from him? Or asked anyone else for the key?”