Page 21 of The Healing Dragon
“Your cousin is fine. Your niece left the year prior whenshe married.”
The relief on his face doesn't match his actions. If he cares about those two people in the castle, why allow the threat at all? He could have stopped it. My grandfather might not have believed Oliver over a royal family but my brothers and I would have taken precautions. We would have been on alert. Lives would have been spared. A lot of would haves are only sorrows now.
“Why did you say nothing?” I ask him.
The words come out choked. If one person should have told us, it’s Oliver. The people who found themselves running from the flames were people he knew.
“If I would’ve known what his plans were, I would have done something, Jesse. Her being there should tell you how I didn’t know.”
“What is she to you?” I cross my arms.
How is her existence any more proof than the ones in the castle?
“The child I’ve always protected.” His words are a near whisper.
“Does that child know you were born in the Black Castle?”
Oliver shakes his head. “I got hired by her grandfather. Then her father came to power. His opinion of your family was evident so I kept my history to myself.”
“He never asked?” I raise a brow.
“He assumed and I allowed him to keep the false assumption.”
I wait for the ringing in my ears to sound but the space is dead quiet. Nothing of what he shared was a lie. But I know that for my gift to work I need to ask the right questions.
“Plotting for the crown should have started long before. How about before?” I ask, trying to hold back my rage. “Why did you say nothing, then?”
There is no way he simply decided one day to march into The Black Castle with no plan. They coordinated the attackwith only a few soldiers but the planning of the attack must have taken weeks. None of them would know the halls of the castle more than the man before me. He took his first steps in them.
“I was never part of those meetings. If he had any sights on your brother’s title, I hoped the whispers were wrong or he would come to his senses.”
I shake my head because I can hear the clear ringing in my ear that tells me he is not being fully truthful. There is a little of the truth in there but not enough.
Duelo might not have walked the halls of his house announcing his plans to take my brother down. But I also find it hard to believe that Oliver didn’t know a single thing about it. He stayed in the Duelo home despite rumors for a reason. Whatever his reason, I can see he won't freely share.
“You are both here for the Red Book?” He looks concerned.
I nod, not sure if I’m going to regret telling him anything.
“I will do all in my power to help you both.”
His words don't ring in my ears but that’s left to see. He looks back out the door.
“We cannot be here long. The book isn’t here, anyway.” He closes the door after me and walks ahead to the main hall. “The kitchen staff must be cleaning up.”
Making his way to the kitchen, he discovers only a handful of staff members are still there. After a terse conversation, the remaining staff vacates the kitchen.
“They are going to assist the dining room. Lord Duelo is not done eating until fifteen past seven.” He looks over at a clock on the wall. “He will send the staff back. We don’t have a lot of time.”
With a bag in hand, he tosses different food items inside. Snacks go in first. Two containers with tonight’s dinner go into the following bag, making my stomach growl again. The foodis no longer hot, having sat on the countertop this whole time, but I don’t care for that. He stops and goes into the pantry. He climbs a shelf to get a box at the very top. After a huff and puff, he hops down with something in his hands.
“These are Janelle’s favorites,” he says.
He hands me a box of cookies I used to stock back in my summer house. I hate these cream and chocolate concoctions, but if you asked my mother, she would have said I lived for them since we would go through boxes of these in a month. The fact was that Janelle and Roman would consume about a sleeve of cookies each night. Disgusting.
“I need to get back to my post. Duelo makes a stop at his office every night after dinner.”
“Sounds good.” I wrap my cloak around my shoulders, covering the food in my arms.
