unForgiven by Bridget E. Baker

Author:Bridget E. Baker [Baker, Bridget E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949655155
Publisher: Purple Puppy Publishing

10

The Past

I approach the staff quarters as quietly as possible. It’s early enough in the morning that the hall is empty. I tap on the door softly.

I hear rustling inside, and I wonder how annoying it is not to have completely soundproofed walls. I didn’t realize the staff walls weren’t reinforced.

The door opens a crack, and Nihils’ eyes widen with alarm.

“Hello,” I say.

“Uh, Your Highness. Can I help you? Is there a problem?”

“May I come in? I’d like to talk to you.” And poke a knife into your eye until you scream.

“Oh.” He glances up and down the hall as if looking for my guards, who were quite hard to ditch, or anyone who might save him. “Uh, sure.” He opens the door a few inches.

I shove it open further and press myself through. He’s standing in his room in basketball shorts and nothing else, but I couldn’t care less what his chest looks like. I’ve got bigger problems than insufficiently defined pectoral muscles, even on an evian who should be working harder. I mean, geez, a hundred sit-ups and push-ups a day and he’d be ripped.

His eyes dart from the door I slam shut behind me to the sword strapped to my back. Good. He’s appropriately nervous.

“I have a few questions,” I say.

“Because I traded shifts.”

He may be lazy, but at least he isn’t painfully stupid. “Yes.”

“I wondered when someone would notice.”

I cross my arms. “I noticed.”

“I didn’t hurt your mother, I swear to you I didn’t.” His heart rate remains steady, his smell is neutral, and no perspiration has spiked since he answered the door. That actually magnifies my existing suspicion. Why isn’t my presence and interrogation more terrifying? He’s acting like I’ll find his secret candy stash, not as though I’ve discovered he positioned himself to poison his Empress.

“For your sake, I certainly hope that’s true.” The more time I spend here, the more convinced I become that he can’t be the mastermind behind my mother’s death. If he was involved, it was as an intermediary, a delivery boy, and nothing more. Which means, if my suspicions pan out, I should be pumping him for information on his boss.

“I have a reason for changing those shifts,” he says. “A reason that has nothing to do with your mother.”

This better be good. I stare at him and tap my foot.

He swallows. “It was because of a girl.”

“I’m going to need more than that,” I say.

“If you check the chart, you’ll see that I had kitchen duty on all of those days. I’d have come in contact with your mother anyway by delivering her tray. But I didn’t want to see Cina, and if I’d kept kitchen duty, I would have.”

“Why exactly didn’t you want to see her?” I raise one eyebrow. I know Cina. She’s feisty and outspoken and I like her, and like most evians, she’s attractive.

“We made out, and it was hot.” He looks at the ground. “But then she wanted more than I did, and it was easier not to bump into her.

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