Page 28 of To Save a Kingdom

She glanced around the space, making sure they were alone. Leaning forward, she braced her forearms against the edge of the tabletop and dropped her voice. “Because you care about the welfare of this kingdom as much as I do, and I know you enjoy being the first to know juicy gossip.”

He shifted his weight toward her, breakfast forgotten, as interest sparked in his eyes. An angry gash across his left palm flashed in the light before disappearing between his folded hands. “I’m listening.”

“The guards and the mages stationed with the Whisperers are dead, murdered. Their magic was drained in the same manner Malkov used. We suspect Brooks and the Master Artificer.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, the bitter aftertaste of bile crawling up her throat. “I need someone I can trust who also has the respect of the aristocracy to put together a team to investigate the crime scene and track down the perpetrator.” She met his eyes, fighting to keep the twitch of disgust from her face. “A noble intelligent enough to handle this task, and unfortunately, you’re at the top of the list.” Her stomach grumbled as her eye dropped to the decadent platter of breakfast pastries and sliced fruit in front of him. She snatched a buttery roll, pulling it apart with her fingers.

His eyes sparkled in victory. “And what will you give me if I do this for you?”

Aliya bit back a sigh. She’d expected nothing less. “If you catch and kill the perpetrators, and return the Whisperers, I’ll quit fighting you about picking a suitor.” She’d have to relent on that point sooner rather than later, anyway. She may as well get something out of it in exchange.

He sat back, crossing his arms, a smug curl of satisfaction flickering across his face.

Aliya’s gut twisted.

“You’ll select someone from the list I gave you?”

Pressing her lips into a thin line, she nodded. “Unless a more appropriate option presents itself between now and then.” She’d have to come up with some way to make Elessan the more appropriate option, though at the moment, that task seemed impossible.

He rubbed his tongue over his teeth, making a show of taking his time mulling over her offer.

Aliya disguised her eyeroll by reaching for his untouched glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and enjoying two deep swallows, washing down the last of the buttery pastry. He’d take her deal—he was too curious not to, especially when it gave him what he wanted.

“Very well,” he said. “I’ll get started this morning.” He pushed himself to his feet. “I assume the bodies are at the barn, and were left undisturbed for me to investigate?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“When did you find them?”

She checked the position of the sun. “A little over two hours ago.”

He frowned. “You were out there alone in the middle of the night?”

She didn’t bother to hide this eyeroll. “Of course not. How stupid do you think I am?” But she had no plans to elaborate.

Shaking her head, she forced her mind away from that train of thought. Whatever. She pushed to her feet, the chair scraping across the stone floor. “I have something else I need to address." She met his gaze. "Please utilize any resources you require to bring this to a swift conclusion before the perpetrators have a chance to use a Whisperer against us, and word of the loss spreads to the elves and dwarves.”

The edges of his smile hardened, curving down. “I’ll keep this quiet.”

Knowing his feelings on the other races, she didn’t have to worry about him pulling any of them into the investigation, but still. “Don’t loop the elves in. And see if you can root out who may still support Malkov and, as a result, Brooks. To pull off something like this, he has to have at least one source inside the castle. Otherwise, he’d never have discovered where we were keeping the Whisperers.”

Her father nodded. “I’m not an idiot.”

She turned, heading to the door. “If I thought you were, I wouldn’t have come to you with this.”

As she shut the door to his suite behind her, she stood in the middle of the hallway, her breaths ragged. She wiped a hand down her face. Hopefully, she hadn’t just made a huge mistake.

Chapter 11

Aliya

Aliya glanced up as Zadé sauntered into her suite less than an hour later. “Mornin’, Princess.”

Aliya raised an eyebrow, trying to determine if the slight swagger was authentic, or if Zadé was pretending to be drunk again, like she had when they’d first met. Faced with the stolen Whisperers and murdered guards, the last thing Aliya needed right now was a drunken general.

The elf wove her way over to Aliya’s desk, where she cocked a hip and leaned against it. Crossing her arms, she pinned Aliya with a stern scowl. “Yeh given any thought to Brisimin?”

Aliya blinked, forcing her thoughts away from whatever Brooks was planning to unleash and to the woman glaring daggers at her. “Of course. What about it?” Though in truth, it hadn’t crossed her mind since she’d discovered Brooks had killed her mages and stolen her Whisperers.

Zadé angled forward, towering above her until Aliya had the sudden impulse to stand to be on a more level footing with the elf. But she resisted the urge. Zadé was her friend. Unlike with her father, there was no need for power plays here.