Throne of Threats (Ducal Detective Mysteries Book 5)

by Sarah E. Burr

  Jax couldn’t comprehend the idea. “Nonsense. You’ll stay here. We can find something for you. I’ll make up a title if I have to.”

  “I appreciate the support, but I think I’d actually like teaching. I enjoyed my days at the Academy immensely. I want to make sure future generations have the same experience.”

  Jax watched her friend for a moment, a friend who had just shared her innermost thoughts and deep secrets. “Uma’s been kidnapped,” she said abruptly, not able to stop the words even if she wanted to.

  Carriena didn’t move. She just continued to lay there in the sun. After a beat or two of silence, she popped one eye opened and looked at Jax before turning white. “Oh Virtues, you’re serious.” She sat up and spoke in a harsh whisper. “What in the hell happened?”

  Jax’s eyes watered at she retold the tale, from finding the abandoned carriage and dead soldiers, to speaking with Signor Daephanté about a growing rebellion. “I just feel like we are stuck, waiting for them to make the next move.”

  Carriena appeared to be speechless.

  Jax waited for the barrage of questions, giving her friend time to process all she’d shared.

  “What are you doing to find her?” Carriena finally asked. “I can only imagine you have some plan up your sleeve for rescuing Uma.”

  “For once, I am at a loss. The only piece of evidence I have is the letter left at the crime scene, and there’s hardly anything to go on,” Jax admitted.

  “May I see it?”

  Jax dug into her dress pocket and pulled out the wrinkled parchment.

  Carriena examined the script, her eyes focusing in on the signet. “This crest has to mean something.”

  Jax gave her a questioning look. “I don’t follow.”

  “People don’t just pick a symbol at random. They choose it for its meaning.” Carriena pointed her slender finger to the serpent wrapped around the sword. “This image means something to this group, Jax. I suggest learning more about it.”

  “Where is this sage wisdom coming from?” Jax sat back in wonder.

  Carriena smirked. “You may recall that while at the Academy, I had an affinity for learning about the Ancient Faith, a religion which heavily relies on the significance of symbolism within its texts and art.”

  Jax’s mouth dropped in amazement. “Wonders never cease. You may make a great professor, yet.”

  “In fact, why don’t we go to the archives and see if we can dig up anything,” her friend suggested.

  Jax was just about to agree when a steward’s signal caught her eye. “As much as I’d like to, it appears your father has arrived. Why don’t we reconvene after dinner?”

  Carriena grinned. “Have fun with Daddy-dearest. I’ll be right here, enjoying the view,” she said as her lustful gaze traveled to a shirtless, sunbathing Emyr.

  Jax laboriously rose from the ground, longing to stay with her friends and enjoy the tranquil scenery, but alas, duty called. As she strode away from the garden, she couldn’t help but marvel at the nonchalance Carriena had displayed over the very real likelihood of losing her crown and her home. How she could be so cavalier and composed about it made Jax wonder if the young woman truly was relieved to have a second chance at a normal life, unrestrained by the confines of protocol and court. It just went to show how different the two friends really were from one another. Despite its challenges, Jax couldn’t see herself living any other way.

  ǂ

  As she walked back to her chambers after having greeted Duke DeLacqua and his delegation, she wondered if there was a diplomatic way she could pay off his debts and help him keep the isles running smoothly. As much as his charisma and bravado tried to blind her, Jax noticed his robes were worn and his carriage was in need of repair. He must be in desperate straits if he’s showed up looking like that, Jax thought, not unkindly, but with genuine concern. She would need to spend some serious time after the wedding figuring out the best way to approach the DeLacqua ordeal.

  “Duquessa, I’m thinking a red gown for this evening,” Vita called from the wardrobe as Jax entered her rooms.

  “Before I can even think of getting dressed up again, I need a bath.” She moaned, throwing herself across the sofa in dramatic fashion.

  “It’s already waiting for you. I just need to add a few stones to heat the water up again,” Vita said, poking her head out of the bedroom door.

  “You’re a blessing.” Jax followed her into the washroom, smelling the lavender incense burning near the window.

  “Enjoy,” Vita said a few minutes later, leaving the Duchess to soak in the quiet with her thoughts.

  They drifted back to her conversation with Carriena in the garden, not about Isla DeLacqua, but about the crest on Uma’s kidnapping note. Carriena was right; it had to mean something. As the image floated in her mind, no longer ink, but a real serpent and sword, she became more convinced that she’d seen something like it somewhere before. Feeling that tingle of recognition within her imagination, she wondered if it had haunted her in a lost dream or something. Whatever it was, it was a very bizarre feeling, as if seeing the crest behind a heavy veil.

  “Duquessa?” Vita’s voice prodded her consciousness and she opened her eyes with a start.

  “Goodness, I guess I feel asleep for a moment there,” Jax said as she stood up in the tub, taking the warm towel from Vita’s outstretched hands.

  “You were mumbling in your sleep, Duquessa.”

  “Hopefully I didn’t spill any state secrets,” Jax replied with a grin, but her face fell when she caught sight of Vita’s unnerved expression. “Did I say something that upset you?” She slipped into a silk robe and followed her maid to the vanity.

  Vita shook her head as she began to style the Duchess’s hair. “No, you just sounded so frightened. For a moment, I was worried someone had gotten in here.”

  “What was I saying?” Jax pressed. She’d never been known to talk in her sleep before.

  “You kept crying ‘the snake has come to get me, the snake has come to get me’. You sounded like a frightened child.” Vita paused for a moment, shuddering at whatever memory consumed her.

  Jax thought back to the serpent wrapped around the sword. Had her dream been some kind of premonition of what was to come?

  Chapter Fourteen

  A knock on the door interrupted Vita’s final strokes of rouge across Jax’s cheeks. Placing the brush down, the lady’s maid hurried over to the outer chamber door and came back with Master Vyanti in tow.

  “Greetings, Your Grace,” he said with a bow.

  “Is everything all right?” was her immediate response.

  Chuckling, he dug into his robes, pulling out a small vial. “Vita sent word that you were having a disruptive sleep. I think this might calm down your mind when you retire tonight.”

  Wondering when her lady’s maid had sent for the physician—had she really been nodding off that long?—she took the blue-green vial, placing it by her bedside. “I worry that if I take a dose of that, I’ll sleep right through my wedding.”

  Vyanti gave her a fatherly look. “I made sure it was a diluted amount. It will help with the nightmares.”

  “I honestly don’t even remember having one,” Jax protested, her mind drawing a complete blank.

  Giving her a wan smile, he turned to leave.

  “Vyanti, why don’t you join the feast tonight? I’m sure Charles will enjoy speaking with you more. And bring young Bastion, too. Why not show the boy a little fun?” It was for Bastion’s sake that Jax extended the sudden invitation. She felt guilty for keeping the poor lad under lock and key, but it was for his own protection. “We’ll continue to tell the guests that he’s in charge of the fireblooms to explain his presence.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be delighted,” Vyanti said before departing.

  As she arrived for dinner a little while later, Jax found a group of friends gathered outside the banquet hall. Skander, Edmund, Emyr, and Bran were deep in conversation and did not
notice her until she arrived at Skander’s side.

  “Duchess!” Edmund nearly jumped out of his skin upon noticing her among their ranks.

  All four closed their mouths with an audible snap.

  “Good evening.” She looked with bemusement at the four strapping men. “Did I interrupt something?”

  “Nothing at all,” Emyr said with silky finesse. “We were just plotting how to convince you that Perry’s a dolt and you belong with one of us instead.”

  “Where’s the sudden interest coming from, Viscount? I thought Lady Carriena had you wrapped around her finger,” she teased. Yet, she watched Emyr’s expression grow sad and drawn at the mention of her friend’s name. Had Carriena grown tired of the young man since the afternoon? “Regardless,” she said, carrying on, “poor Perry is stuck with me, I’m afraid.”

  Edmund gave her a fiendish grin. “You can’t fault us for trying, Duchess.”

  The four friends resumed their murmuring the moment she moved away from them, skillfully keeping their words indistinguishable from her keen ears. What were they conspiring about?

  Jax was the first to enter the dining hall this evening, relieved she didn’t have to wait to be announced. Since tonight was the last night she could attend to her personal guests, she wished to greet them as they came to dinner.

  Hendrie and Perry appeared not long after her, both appearing ripe with embarrassment.

  “What’s happened to you two?” Jax scoffed, wondering why they seemed so uncomfortable in her presence.

  “Oh, just something Skander mentioned to us out in the hall…” Perry trailed off, clearly not wanting to talk about whatever it was.

  Imagining that his friends were just teasing him about his upcoming nuptials, Jax dropped the subject and turned her attention to Charles and Giovanna’s arrival.

  “I ran into Master Vyanti in the hall,” Charles said with exuberance, “and he said he’ll be joining us for dinner this evening. What a treat! I wonder if I could get the Academy to transfer the remainder of my residency to Saphire to study under his tutelage.” He thoughtfully scratched his scalp through his blond hair. “I only have a few more weeks of the program left, but it would be an incredible opportunity.”

  “I’m sure I can put in a word with your professors, Charles,” Jax said. “It would be wonderful to have you study here.” Considering her fondness for his boyish charm, she knew his residency with the court physician in Isla DeLacqua would be in jeopardy if things went south for Carriena and her father. She could at least make sure Charles did not fall victim to the Duke’s extravagant spending habit.

  “You must be on the edge of your seat with excitement, Jacqueline,” Giovanna gushed, wrapping her in a warm hug. “Only two more days!”

  Jax’s stomach clenched with nerves. “It’s hard to believe.”

  “It’s been so delightful being here. I hope we don’t have to wait a whole year before seeing each other again,” Giovanna wistfully responded.

  “I shall make it a royal decree that you must visit more often,” Jax said with a sly grin. A new thought bubbled to the surface of her mind. “You should convince your father to put on his next production here in Sephretta. We’ll build him a glorious theater and everything.”

  Her friend’s amber eyes lit up. “Careful, Duchess, or you might find yourself regretting such a generous offer.”

  “I wouldn’t regret it at all!” Jax said in protest. “In fact, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Why should Hestes be the theatrical capital of the realm?”

  Giovanna blushed. “I’m not sure I could ever convince my father to leave behind his beloved duchy, even if you became his personal patron.”

  Jax looked the young woman over. “I’d actually be interested in securing another playwright. One that’s more up-and-coming.” She paused. “Have you ever thought about stepping out from your father’s shadow?”

  “Me?” Her eyes widened. “Jax, I’m just an actress. I can sing and dance, yes, but write?”

  Jax’s eyes darted conspiratorially to Charles before she continued. “A little birdie told me that you were responsible for more than half of the script about our high seas journey. And was that not a bona fide hit?”

  Giovanna looked as if she fought the urge to smack her bigmouthed brother, who had shared this news with Jax earlier in the day. “It’s a developing talent, I’ll admit.”

  “Then I’d encourage you to think about developing it here,” Jax replied, grinning with triumph as the Montivarius siblings strode to their seats, discussing the proposal.

  Annette, Duke Mensina, and Darian arrived next, exchanging quick greetings before settling in their chairs.

  “I’m starving,” Duke Mensina grumbled. “Now I know where you get your appetite from, Jacqueline. The walls of this castle make a person’s stomach growl.”

  Jax was still chuckling when Dukes Pettraud and Crepsta arrived.

  “My wife is taking supper in her rooms tonight,” Duke Crepsta said apologetically. “She just doesn’t have the stamina these days to keep up with state dinners night after night.”

  “It’s a slap in the face, growing old, I tell you,” Duke Pettraud sympathized.

  “No apologies necessary, Duke,” Jax reassured him. “We want her well rested for the wedding. I’ll make sure the chef sends a peach tart along with her dinner.”

  “That will delight her, Duchess,” he replied, kissing her hand in reverence.

  Carriena and her father arrived, arm in arm, and asked to be seated next to Darian and Annette. Heartened by the Duke’s genuine interest in getting to know the new Cetachi leader, Jax summoned a steward to make the arrangements and within minutes all four were conversing in animated fashion.

  The Pettraudian brood, as she had come to think of them, were the last to grace the dining hall with their rowdy presence. Perry’s brothers seemed much more eager tonight to interact with his friends than they had the previous evening. She cringed a bit upon noticing Philippe’s bruised eye, but he appeared to take it in good stride. He caught her staring at the purple mark and had the decency to look shamefaced.

  “I deserved it,” he said with a shrug before sauntering over to join his brothers.

  Realizing it would be the last intimate meal before the festivities began—not that everyone at her ducal table could be called an intimate friend—Jax encouraged everyone to enjoy copious amounts of mead, conversation, and laughter. She kept watch at the head of the table, her eyes searching for anything that might help her understand the events that had transpired over the past few days.

  Besides herself, the heads of five other duchies had gathered here, none of them appearing to suspect a possible threat on the horizon.

  What troubled her most was that the kidnappers had been silent since spiriting Uma away. She would have expected some type of ransom letter, especially given the fact that she “had something” of theirs, according to their cryptic note. Now, you can wait. The words danced before her eyes. What was their end goal? What did they want?

  “Everything all right?” Perry asked, taking her hand. “You’ve hardly touched your dessert.”

  Jax glanced down at her lemon cake with strawberry sorbet. “I need to make sure my wedding gown fits,” she joked lamely, her stomach too roiled with worry to eat properly.

  As everyone cleared out of the dining hall later in the evening, Carriena appeared at her side, looking grim.

  “I know I said we should go dig through the archives, but Father has just summoned me for an important meeting,” she said, wringing her hands. “I imagine it has to do with how we will be presenting ourselves tomorrow once the other duchies arrive. Might we reconvene tomorrow morning? Will you have time?”

  “The rehearsal and reception won’t begin until sunset, so I can make the time,” Jax replied. She gave her friend a warm hug and wished her good night.

  Perry waved his friends and brothers off, and Jax tried to ignore the shifty looks they sen
t her way. “What’s going on with them? They kept sending dodgy signals to each other throughout the entire evening.”

  “And you didn’t miss it, did you?” Perry drawled. “Your eyes were rolling around the room like a game of croquette.”

  She shook her head in her defense. “I was merely keeping an eye on things.”

  “You might want to try and act like you’re having more fun if you don’t want people to get suspicious that something is wrong,” Perry pointedly suggested.

  Her face hardened at the criticism. “Thank you for that observation.”

  He held his hands up. “You were the one who was so adamant about seeing this through.”

  “Any more advice?”

  Looking tired, Perry ran a hand through his dark hair. “No, which is why I didn’t like this idea to begin with. It’s an impossible task to pretend everything is fine.”

  Her amethyst eyes flared. “Agreed. And it’s even harder when your fiancé and his friends act all cagey any time I come near them.”

  Perry scoffed. “Come on, that’s not true.”

  She was in no mood to argue any further. “Good night, Lord Pettraud,” she said in dismissal, not bothering to wait for his reply as she stalked off to her rooms.

  Vita was waiting for her, nightclothes in hand. “I figured you might want to retire early tonight,” she offered before helping the Duchess out of her ruby red gown and jewels.

  “Shall I put this in a glass for you?” Vita dangled the vial Master Vyanti had brought earlier between her fingers.

  Laying her head back on her pillow, Jax didn’t feel like taking the draft tonight. She had too much to think about, and she needed the silence of night to do it. “Leave it there, why don’t you,” she said, motioning to her bedside table. “I may take it in a while.”