Aleksasha stared at Matias, exasperated and breathless. Her face a bright red as she tried to form coherent sounds. Her thoughts muddled by the rush of conflicting emotions. "Why must you vex me so?" She finally managed. She gripped the lapels of his jacket as she looked down away from his eyes. "I… will go with you," she decided, her eyes moving back to his face.
Matias smiled. "Good. I do not wish to leave you alone tonight, nor do I wish for you to seek other company." He admitted.
She frowned at the comment. She felt a touch of dread. Please don't tell me he thinks I have anyone else… that there is something between Lord Adrian and I…
"Matt… Don't believe whatever that woman has said about me and that man… I was just greeting a guest," her voice soft and strained. Her eyes wide and pleading.
Matias's gaze was warm as he stroked her cheek, idly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I believe you, Alek. We should go before I get too distracted." He replied softly and stepped back, taking Aleksasha's arm into his. Aleksasha's expression brightened and some of the dread coiled around her loosened.
He straightened, letting out a soft breath. "Are you warm enough? I can lend you my coat."
She shook her head as she smoothed out the wrinkles of her dress. "No, thank you. I'll be all right, if I change my mind, I will take you up on your offer."
Matias glanced down at her. "I'm worried for you. You don't have to do this."
"This is about our people. We need to discover the truth, however horrible it may be."
Matias's expression became unreadable as they walked from the study out to the hall where Turold was waiting for them.
"Your graces." Turold looked more haggard than when Aleksasha saw him last. His clothes were rumpled and the edges of his pants were stained with mud. He bowed respectfully to them, the flickering torchlight casting long shadows on his already grim expression. "We found someone. There was a third stable boy who barely survived the attack." He lifted his head and began guiding them through the halls.
Aleksasha's eyes widened and she took in a sharp breath, her grip on Matias's arm tightened instinctively.
Matias's voice was low and demanding, "Where is he?"
"Due to the nature of his injuries and the circumstances… we though it best to not take him to the infirmary. He is in your private guest quarters." Turold grimly offered. "Please forgive my impertinence in encroaching on your private areas but it was the best defended place I thought he could be safe."
"No forgiveness is needed, Turold, you made the right call to put him there. I would've insisted that be done if you had not taken the iniative already," Matias commented with an approving nod.
"Did he say anything about how he came to be in this state?" Aleksasha asked, her hand trembling against Matias.
Turold hesitated for a moment as he picked his words carefully. "He was quite… hysterically. He was raving before he fell unconscious." He frowned but continued. "The shadow. She laughed. She knew them. It was already decided."
A chill shot down Aleksasha's spine. She pursed her lips together as she considered his words. I need to stop and think rationally. I want to blame Selene but that's not enough to damn her. There isn't enough in that statement to make an accusation. Only that a woman said those things.
"Just 'she'. That's not enough. It could be someone, anyone else," Her eyes moved to Matias for a moment as he appraised her with an unreadable expression. I never know what he is thinking. It's so different than when we talking through letters.
Matias's jaw tightened and he nodded his approval of Aleksasha's statement. "We'd need to talk to him to find out who he might have been talking about."
"Of course, but that's not all." Turold stopped, reaching into a pouch on his belt and withdrew a slip of parchment, torn, and stained with mud. "We found this wedged inside Theo's boot. I think you should see what you make of it."
Matias took the slip, unfolding it. His eyes narrowed as he read the script scrawled against the yellow paper. His shoulders tensed, the muscles in his arm tensed beneath Aleksasha's hand. His mouth a thin line.
"Matias?" she asked as she looked up at him expectantly.
His expression darkened as he offered her the slip of parchment. "….it's happened again, Alek."
Her eyes widened at the implication as she took the paper. Her breath catching.
Again? No… that's not possible…
"If it is that means… this person is either spying on one or both of us or… intercepted our…" Aleksasha looked horrified as she unfolded the message and saw the familiar series of letters and symbols of their code. This cipher that brought her so much joy over the past decade was now being used like this.
Someone's been watching us… reading our flirtations. It shouldn't be possible and yet… here is again for a second time in two days. The traitor hinted at a traitor in the last letter?
The blood drained from her face as she quickly scanned the cipher, translating it against the lexicon she had memorized in her mind. "Beware the serpent who wears a crown. The knife is already raised."
"This is the second one. Someone is deliberating using our cipher," she whispered as she looked up at Matias, a storm of fear and anger in her eyes. "The possibilities of how are not pleasant. Either we have a traitor in your camp, our household, spies, or someone has been intercepting our letters for an age." She frowned.
Matias's face was unreadable, though a flicker of concern sparked across his eyes for a moment before his mask resettled. "If Theo had this… it either means he was trying to deliver a warning before he died if he knew what it said," he slowly commented, "Or someone put it there for us to find."
Aleksasha's brows furrowed in concentration as she gently tapped her lips with a finger. "It's a piece of a longer message. Where is the rest?" She wondered. "I doubt my letters would get into the hands of a boy like Theo to decode… but if someone said it was important then.. No matter what, this is a message to us." Her stomach twisted into a knot, someone had murdered two children to send a threat or warning to them.
This is something bigger than just Selene possibly trying to steal Matias away. There is something else going on here. Every word that woman has said to me is calculated. She knows much about my circumstances and how to twist me with her barbs.
She clenched the thin slip of paper tightly in her hands.
What if this is all a ploy to make me push Matias away and focus on Selene? To be distracted by pettiness and my painful memories while something else more sinister is going on in the background?
"Is Selene the chess master or a pawn on someone else's board?" She wondered out loud.
Matias turned his attention to Turold. "We're retiring to our quarters to be nearby in case the stable boy wakes up. Ser Turold, double the guards. No one enters or leaves the estate without my permission. Notify me immediately if something happens."
Turold bowed. "Understood, your grace. I will go make preparations." He lifted his head and offered Aleksasha a reassuring smile. "My lady, we'll catch this fiend and give our boys peace when we avenge their deaths. I have faith." He retreated, leaving the couple alone in the hallway as his footsteps echoed away.
Aleksasha folded the parchment carefully, her hands trembling as she slipped it into a pocket of her gown. Her voice was soft as she didn't want it to carry beyond Matias's ears. "We need to be alone and discuss our next move." Her hand gripped the side of his sleeve as she looked up him with anxious energy.
"Agreed." He met her gaze, something unknowable in his gaze that frustrated her. She wanted to know his inner thoughts. She wanted to trust him. "This is something far more insidious than a jealous house guest," his words were quiet and calm despite the seriousness of the matter.
Her anger towards him cooled but not because it hurt any less that he was keeping something for her, nor refused to confirm or deny his relationship to Selene but because the bigger picture was far more terrifying. She clutched his sleeve tighter, her body trembled as her pulse quickened.
Theo and Madan's deaths are only the beginning. It's happening again. Someone is out to destroy my household and they want me powerless to stop them… And whomever is doing this wants me to be looking in the wrong direction… as it all falls apart.