THE MISSING HAND

Elaris’s POV

Averic refused to inform the household that the servant was missing.

Instead, he ordered a search of the lower levels, forgotten passageways, storerooms and the old corridors linking the east cloister to the shrine road.

He left the search to a handful of warriors because he no longer trusted those who wore palace colors.

Elaris was told that the woman who had been posted near the inner service passage was no longer in her bed.

Elaris understood what that meant.

'She was there last night?"

Averic's captain hesitated before answering.

'Her blanket was folded back. Her shoes were by the bed.'

'Was there blood? Struggle? Did she take anything with her? '

'Nothing obvious.'

The lack of an answer discomfited Elaris more than any sign of a struggle would have.

A woman who ran away would have taken something with her.

A woman who was taken might have left everything behind.

Averic appeared briefly at her door.

'Don't leave this room for any reason.'

'Because you think she was taken?'

Averic studied her.

'Because I don't know who I can trust.'

The door closed.

Elaris understood that for the first time, his doubts did not extend to her.

The search continued through the night.

Elaris waited behind the inner doors with the two warriors assigned to watch her.

Sleep eluded her.

The sounds of warriors' boots on stone, the turning of keys somewhere beyond her corridor, the sighs of servants being sent away, the doors opening and closing off into the palace, all blended into a single din that made it difficult for her to concentrate on anything but the steady beat of her own heart.

She counted the intervals between the watch because it was easier than dwelling on the sounds outside her door.

The first guard left.

The second came on.

Then another shift took over.

Neryss was denied access.

Even the kitchen attendants were kept out of the inner wing.

Elaris asked one of the guards if anything had been found.

'Nothing that the Alpha has ordered us to report.'

'That is not an answer.'

'Perhaps it should have been.'

She turned away from the door.

Elaris sensed that the palace itself felt different tonight.

Where once she had thought danger lurked around corners, now she sensed that it had already mapped every turn.

She thought of the unsecured eastern gate.

The service passage.

The medicine stores.

The tampered tea.

The hand beneath her door.

The events that had preceded this moment all seemed less like attacks and more like trials, testing the walls of her defenses until she knew where they were weakest.

She whispered to herself.

'How long have you been inside?'

No one answered.

At first light Averic came to her.

He looked weary, the dust of the lower corridors clinging to his tunic.

He did not pretend that the search had yielded pleasant results.

Elaris wasted no time in asking “Did you find her?”

'Not yet.'

He closed the door behind him, but instead of taking the chair he remained standing.

Elaris studied his expression.

'You found something else.'

Averic nodded.

The servant's room had been thoroughly searched after a warrior observed a loose board beneath the bed.

Inside was a small bundle of cloth containing a second, smaller broken clasp.

Elaris felt a tightening in her abdomen.

'Another one of these?'

Averic set a folded piece of paper on the table.

He did not offer it to her immediately.

The dates were familiar to Elaris.

'They're the nights I prepared Maevra's medicine.'

Averic nodded.

'And the nights the doses were altered.'

Elaris looked up.

'Where did she get this? '

“We don’t know.”

'Did she write it?'

'Her script matches the records of the servants.'

Elaris examined the list.

The dates were too precise to be coincidence.

'She was keeping track.'

'She was either,' Averic said, 'or someone gave her orders.'

The difference in the phrasing unsettled Elaris.

She asked, 'And the clasp? '

Averic's expression darkened.

'We found it with the list.'

For the first time, the evidence was no longer suggesting that someone had been watching her but that someone had been recording her movements.

Elaris asked if the missing attendant was still inside the palace.

Averic paused before answering.

'The scent trail leads to the east cloister.'

'And then? '

'It disappears near the old shrine road.'

Elaris waited.

He did not say she had escaped.

He did not say she had been taken.

He merely looked toward the window.

That was sufficient.

If she had left by the shrine road, why would she have left her shoes? '

Averic looked back at her.

'We are asking the same question.'

Elaris rose from the chair, but paused when one of the guards instinctively moved closer.

'I wasn't going anywhere.'

'I know.'

'Do you? '

His expression shifted.

'I know you're frightened.'

Elaris said, 'I'm not frightened for myself.'

Averic said nothing.

She touched the edge of the paper.

'She knew about the medicine. She knew which nights I prepared it. Someone knew enough about my routines to take advantage of them.'

Averic's response was quiet.

'And now I have to know who taught her.'

Elaris looked at him.

'Do you still think I am the center of this? '

'No.

Averic said it faster than he expected.

He seemed to regret it almost at once.

Elaris did not press him.

For once, she was willing to let the change speak for itself.

Lord Sennik arrived early that morning, already in possession of what had occurred.

It disturbed Elaris at once.

The council should not have been informed with such speed unless someone within the palace had already shared the information.

Sennik demanded an explanation for the added guards and the sealed herb stores.

Averic met him in the antechamber rather than allowing him into Elaris's chamber.

'We are conducting an internal security investigation.'

“Because an attendant disappeared?”

'Because several security breaches occurred.'

Sennik's gaze shifted to the inner chamber door.

'Several? '

Averic did not answer.

Sennik changed tactics.

'The council will not tolerate another unexplained incident before the hearing.'

'You will tolerate what I tell you to tolerate inside my palace.'

'I am reminding you that this is no longer a household matter.'

Averic's reply was carefully measured.

'And I am reminding you that someone has been walking the halls of my palace without permission.'

Sennik's attention shifted to the sealed storerooms.

“Were dangerous herbs found?”

Averic offered him the bare bones of the situation.

'Evidence is being secured.'

Sennik looked toward the door.

Elaris realized he was attempting to decide if she was being protected or imprisoned.

Before he left, he said, 'The council will expect answers before the hearing.'

Averic replied, 'Then they will receive facts.'

Sennik departed.

Elaris listened to the fading sound of his footsteps.

She asked, 'How did he know about the herbs so quickly? '

Averic looked toward the corridor.

'Exactly what I intend to find out.'

After Sennik had gone, Averic returned to Elaris's chamber and once more closed the door behind him.

He informed her that the council now knew an attendant was missing and that wolfsbane had been found outside her chamber.

The hearing had been moved up again.

'There is no time for convenient proof,' Averic said.

'Convenient proof would have been nice,' Elaris said in a humorless tone.

Averic accepted the remark without protest.

'I know.'

She studied him.

'You really do know,'

'I should have listened to you earlier.'

Elaris looked down.

The admission, though not an apology, was enough to alter the tightness in her chest.

She sensed a shift in him, a new awareness.

He was no longer questioning the implications of the evidence against her; he was questioning where the evidence had come from.

That was something else entirely.

Averic told her that the servant records would be examined, that the guards would be questioned separately and that every one of Maevra's medicine dispensers would be accounted for.

Elaris asked, 'Including Virelle? '

'Yes.'

The response was immediate.

Her chest tightened.

'Even with the council protecting her? '

'Especially because of it.'

He left her with one final warning.

'If anyone comes to this door without my permission, you do not open it.'

Elaris said, 'What if they use your name? '

'Then make them prove it.'

Elaris requested to be present when the servant was found.

Averic refused.

'No.'

'You don't even know if she is alive.'

'That is why you are staying here.'

'I could recognize her.'

'And Virelle could recognize that you were looking.'

Elaris crossed her arms.

'Do you think she would use my presence against me again? '

'I think she has used every advantage she could find.'

The remark was sharper than she expected.

Elaris caught the change in him.

'You're finally saying her name without defending her.'

Averic did not deny it.

'I am saying that I no longer have the luxury of presuming anyone's innocence.'

Elaris looked toward the closed door.

'What about mine? '

Averic hesitated.

'You've given me more proof than I deserved to ask for.'

It was not words of forgiveness, but it was the closest he would ever come to it.

He placed a hand briefly against the doorframe.

'I will find her.'

Elaris said, 'Find her before someone else decides what she is allowed to remember.'

Averic turned away.

Elaris realized that the search was no longer only for the missing servant, but for the man who had made her fear enough to hide.

Neryss was granted a brief visit.

She came with one of the inner guards and immediately lowered her voice.

'Virelle has been in the main hall all morning.'

'What has she been doing? '

'Being seen.'

Neryss said it with a bitterness that almost made Elaris laugh.

Virelle had been seen whispering to servants and to representatives of the council, telling them that she was frightened by the unpredictable nature of the herbs that had been circulating inside the palace.

'She said she doesn't know who will attack her next.'

Elaris said, 'She said that? '

'She cried while saying it.'

Elaris looked at Neryss.

'Were there tears? '

Neryss hesitated.

'Enough for everyone watching.'

Elaris understood.

Virelle did not need to accuse her openly; she only needed to convince others that there were dangers within the palace that extended beyond Elaris.

Then any frightened servant would be willing to accuse her.

Neryss whispered, 'Some of the maids believe her.

'Of course they do.'

“You’re not angry?”

'I am tired of being surprised by what fear makes people believe.'

Neryss took a breath.

'She asked one of the attendants if the Alpha still visits you.'

Elaris's attention sharpened.

'Which one? '

Neryss named the woman.

Elaris recognized her.

One of the private-wing servants.

The group that had accessed the corridors.

The group whose movements had never been scrutinized.

Elaris said, 'Find out if she was on duty the nights Maevra's medicine changed.'

Neryss looked toward the guard.

'I'll try.'

“Don’t try. Listen.”

Neryss nodded.

On her way out, she said, 'Virelle is smiling again.'

'Perhaps she thinks something went right.'

Averic returned near midday.

This time he closed the door before taking a seat.

'I have another fact.'

Elaris waited.

'The missing servant was seen two nights ago.'

'Where? '

In the west-wing corridor.'

Elaris felt her stomach drop.

'With whom? '

'Virelle.'

The name changed the atmosphere of the room.

A junior guard had seen them talking after most of the household had retired.

They had been close enough that the guard assumed the conversation was private.

Elaris asked, 'Why wasn't this reported immediately? '

Averic's mouth tightened.

'The guard did report it.'

'And? '

'To a senior officer.'

'And? '

'He was ordered to forget what he saw.'

Elaris stared at him.

'By whom? '

'We are still finding that out.'

She turned away, processing the implications.

Someone had seen the meeting and someone had ensured that the report was buried.

That meant Virelle's relationship with the missing servant was known before the servant went missing.

Averic said, 'The junior guard remembered because he was uncomfortable with the order.'

'Why tell you now? '

'Because he heard about the missing woman.'

She looked back at Averic.

“So fear kept him quiet.”

'Yes.

'And someone higher in the chain made sure he stayed quiet.'

Averic nodded.

Elaris's thoughts raced.

The servant.

The medicine.

The broken chains.

The passages.

The officer who had buried the report.

All the pieces fit into place.

Virelle might not have been acting alone, but she was no longer standing outside of this equation.

She was inside it.

Elaris sat in thoughtful silence long after Averic had finished speaking.

The information had transformed the nature of the investigation.

The evidence was no longer pointing to someone who wanted to harm her; it was pointing to someone who wanted to keep the information hidden.

Even more troubling was the fact that the person responsible could be someone she trusted.

Elaris said, 'She may have been helping Virelle.'

Averic watched her.

'Or Virelle may have been using her.'

'If she was helping Virelle, why disappear? '

'If she was afraid she had been seen.'

'And if someone knew she disappeared? '

Averic did not answer.

Elaris realized they were both thinking the same thing.

The missing woman might hold the answer, but the person who had taken her might know it as well.

Averic said, 'This changes the investigation.'

'It changes more than that.'

He waited.

'Until now, every attack could be explained as someone trying to make me look guilty.'

She indicated the evidence.

'This means someone was protecting that lie from inside.'

Averic's expression became grim.

'And that person may still be close enough to hear every order I give.'

Elaris asked, 'Do you trust your captain? '

'I trust what he has proven.'

'That is not what I asked.'

Averic took a breath.

'No.

For the first time Elaris understood that the palace had changed in a fundamental way.

Averic turned toward the window.

Beyond the glass, the eastern wall was visible in the distance.

His gaze remained fixed on it.

Elaris studied him.

'You think she went through the old passages.

Averic said, 'I think someone wants us to think that.

'The scent trail could have been planted.

'Yes.

She thought of the false trails, the broken clasp, the notes, the garden, the gate.

Every step of evidence had been planted, but perhaps that was the intent all along.

To ensure they were following the wrong trail.

Averic turned back to her.

'The search will continue through the night.

'And if she isn't found? '

Averic's answer was immediate.

'She will be.

Elaris said, 'You sound certain.

'I need to be.

His expression changed.

'If she isn't found before the hearing, Sennik will use the disappearance as an excuse.'

'How? '

'The palace is no longer secure under your protection.'

'And if the council believes that? '

Averic did not answer.

Elaris knew what would follow.

Averic's position would weaken.

The council would gain strength.

Virelle would gain sympathy.

And the blood moon would come.

Averic said, 'If they decide I cannot protect my own household, they will decide someone else should.'

Elaris looked toward him.

'Then finding her isn't only about clearing my name.

'No.

His answer was quiet.

'It is about keeping the throne from becoming an invitation.

A sharp knock interrupted them.

A runner's voice came from the other side of the door.

'Alpha!

Averic opened the door.

The runner was out of breath.

'We found her.

Elaris rose despite the warning from the guard.

Averic turned to face the runner.

'Where? '

The runner hesitated.

'Not the shrine road.

Averic's expression changed.

'Then where? '

'The old storage cellars beneath the east cloister.

Elaris was not permitted to go with them.

A healer was already being summoned.

Averic demanded to know who had found her.

'Two warriors checking the abandoned storerooms.

'Was the door locked? '

'No, Alpha.

The answer troubled Elaris.

Averic asked if anyone could have entered recently.

The warrior looked toward the floor.

'There were fresh footprints.

'How many sets? '

'Only one.

Elaris asked, 'Whose? '

The warrior hesitated.

“We don’t know.”

Then he revealed what they had found with the servant.

A third broken chain clasp.

Elaris felt the implications at once.

Virelle's signature again, but this time there was something else.

A folded piece of paper lay beneath the attendant's bound hand.

It was covered in hurried writing, the ink smudged across several lines.

Averic ordered the warrior to bring it carefully.

Only part of the message was legible.

Elaris read the first words.

Then the second line.

Her stomach twisted.

'She told me...

Averic took the page closer to the light.

The last readable words were:

'She told me the second mate's blood is the price-'

The sentence ended abruptly.

There was a thick smear across the bottom of the page where the writer had dragged the pen away in frustration.

Elaris looked toward the entrance to the cellar.

Someone had not only stopped the attendant from escaping; they had caught her writing the truth.

And whoever had stopped her had left behind the broken chain clasp as a reminder that they knew whose blood they would spill next.

Averic looked at Elaris.

'This time,' he said, 'we have someone who can tell us what happened.'

From the cellar below, the wounded attendant suddenly made a muffled sound.

Her eyes snapped open.

She looked past Averic directly at Elaris.

Then she shook her head violently.

As if warning her not to speak.

Not to trust.

The healer cut the scarf from her mouth.

The attendant tried to form a name.

Only one word escaped.

'Veirelle...

Her eyes rolled back.

And from somewhere above the cellar came the unmistakable sound of a palace door closing.

Someone was still searching the palace.