Page 153 of Bloom
“He’s about to leave tomorrow, so let them talk. They’re fine. Zacharie will go to bed when he’s done apologizing and ready.”
“Open the door.”
“They want privacy.”
“I said to open the door,” Gautier snarled.
“For fuck’s sake, Zacharie doesn’t need you pasted to his hip, and they’re not fighting. Wait for him in bed. He’ll come out when they’re done. Why are you being so rude?”
“I don’t trust Aleric. That’s my future husband in there, and you can’t tell me I can’t see him.”
“Your future husband is talking to mine,” Jaime snapped. “I don’t have to let you in. Piss off.”
Only Aleric’s low voice, the words indistinguishable, broke the uncomfortable silence that followed. Jaime was pretty sure he heard a faint sound like footsteps. He hadn’t expected Gautier to walk away so quickly. He pressed his ear to the door and listened for several moments. Nothing.
Carefully, he got down on the floor to look under the crack. A lantern hanging from the ceiling cast enough light for him to tell that no one was standing in front of the door. He inched closer, trying to see if Gautier was standing to the side.
He wouldn’t walk away, wait in bed, and give up that easily.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Gautier didn’t say to call Pearl a whore,” Zacharie told Aleric. “I said it because-” He cut off.
Aleric was used to not giving a shit when Zacharie was upset. He hadn’t seen his brother cry in years, but he looked ready to start right there, and he suddenly regretted all the times he’d told his little brother to go away and stop pestering him. He’d thought Zacharie would immediately say something if anyone ever struck him, and he hadn’t. If their relationship had been better, he might have felt comfortable coming to him to say something.
Or it wouldn’t have happened at all.
“What?” pressed Aleric.
“I slipped a note between the cards that said I wanted to talk to you because Gautier had said some things, and I was scared. You told me you looked, but you still threw the damn cards out the window.”
Aleric’s gut pinched as he remembered how Zacharie had looked at him after he said he had looked. He’d tried to ask for help and probably felt like he’d been spit on.
“I didn’t,” admitted Aleric. “I mean, I opened the box and saw the top card. I didn’t look through them. I had no idea there was a note, and I threw the box outside. I didn’t even watch the cards fall…”
“Gautier helped me pick them up. I said I’d do it myself, but he insisted, and I think he might have spotted the note and knew I’d written to you in secret. They were all over the front yard, and I was hurrying to snatch them up. The note was small. He might have seen it, tucked it in his pocket, and opened it later in secret.”
“What all has he said?”
“He said the three who might have attacked you might have been intended for me, but they fucked up.”
Aleric shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. We don’t look alike.”
“Hits are often paid in full after the job is done,” Zacharie said in a rush. “They meet somewhere and get the rest of the money, often through a middleman who brings the coin. He might not even know what it’s for, and he’s not specifically involved in the plot.”
“Okay?”
“I went with several courtiers, and it would have been impossible to get to me without witnesses. Only a fool would have risked it. No kill, no money. They would know they’ve wasted time, and if someone’s morals are black enough to kill for money, who can say they didn’t decide to turn on you? They could have taken your horse and sword.”
He had a point. Men hired for a quick job to kill aren’t necessarily loyal to the payer.
“Gautier said it made sense because he didn’t believe anyone at court had a reason to kill you.”
“But Mighty-”
“You paid the stableboy to spread something on her. If I died, someone would think both sons were a target, and you were lucky enough to live. At most, Mighty would have thrown you.”
“I wouldn’t poison my own horse!”
