Page 109 of Fragile Oath

Finally, I was close enough to see legs. Still, unmoving legs in a deep purple skirt. The silk was intricately embroidered in a blend of Socairan and Lochlannian styles, just like the gowns Galina had commissioned. They were getting more popular now. That didn’t mean it was her.

It can’t be her.

My feet were like lead as I made my way to the doorway, questions whirring in my mind.

What color was her dress this morning? I had told her she looked beautiful, kissed her on her way out the door, but now I couldn’t remember. Was it the purple one? Blue?

The seconds passed with agonizing slowness, the edges of my vision blurring as I finally pushed my way past the soldiers and into the room. All of the air left my lungs in a single breath, my chest deflating with something that didn’t feel quite like relief.

It wasn’t Galina.

It was Fiona.

Midnight waves framed a face that was no longer beautiful, marred as it was by dark spiderweb veins across her pale, pristine skin. That seemed like the largest indignity, that she had been stripped of the one thing she cared about the most.

The smell was enough to tell me that the body wasn’t fresh, which meant she couldn’t have been behind the attack.

She wasn’t the Viper.

The Viper was still out there, and Fiona was dead, and someone had made sure Galina was alone.

ChapterForty-Seven

GALINA

My hands were freezing.Or perhaps that was all of me, paralyzed by the reality I found myself in, only seconds after giving in to my storms-blasted curiosity about the plants.

Was it insane to suspect Gracie of being the Viper? Or had we just all been blind?

The flower could have been a gift from Fiona or MacBay, but it was unlikely here in the space she had made her own. Despite the claims that the Shaws were known for their greenhouses, I doubted Fiona knew how to care for a plant, let alone cultivate one. That was undoubtedly all the work of her gardeners.

Besides, something about her as the Viper had been bothering Davin from the start.

Whereas Gracie… We hadn’t even considered her. We hadn’t bothered to look past her wide eyes and her blushing cheeks to notice how she casually pointed the finger at Fiona more than once or the unobtrusive way she was involved in everything at court without ever calling attention to herself.

That’s what made her so terrifying to the people she commanded. This phantom villain that hid in the shadows with access to all of their secrets and loved ones. The person you would least expect, getting by with literal murder.

Spots appeared in my vision as I shot a surreptitious look at the door – the door that was on the other side of her — which she must have locked quietly while I was observing the room, if the shadow of the bolt was anything to go by. No doubt she had the key somewhere on her person.

I tried to remember every single thing Davin had ever said about her, whether she trained to fight like the rest of them. A memory hit me of Rowan casually commenting once over dinner that all Lochlannian women had trained since her mother made it popular during the war.

In, then out,I forced myself to breathe.

Gracie was the Viper.

I took another subtle breath, my lungs burning with the effort.

I was trapped in this soundproof room with the Viper standing less than three feet from me.

One more steadying breath, deeper and slower, but no less quiet. Finally, a modicum of calm washed over me.

Surely if she had wanted to kill me, she would have by now. Probably. I didn’t feel any effects of poison, hadn’t tasted any strange aftertaste in the mild black tea or the delicate sandwiches.

Besides, Ewan was just outside the door. He may not be able to hear us, but he certainly knew where I was. And if I was careful, I could use this as an opportunity to find out something, anything, that would help Davin.

At the very least, I needed to keep calm until I could reasonably leave.

Smile,I ordered myself.Gently, genuinely.I wasn’t sure I managed, so I turned my face to ostensibly examine the tea options.

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