Four Dead Queens(75)

“Oh.”

“Which means he was already in the palace before Queen Iris was murdered.”

“Why would an inspector be in the palace before any murders?”

He looked down the corridor. “I don’t know.”

“Could he be involved?”

His eyes snapped back to mine. “I’ve heard of Inspector Garvin. He’s . . .” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Different.”

I could fill in the gaps. “Tweaked.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean he’s evil. It doesn’t mean he’s a killer.” Steel lined his words.

I held up my palms. “You said evil, not me. But who would be controlling the inspector? If he is the killer?”

“Someone who has something to gain from having all queens dead.”

We weren’t any closer to knowing who that was.

“Come,” he said after a moment. “Let’s find the inspector. He’s the only lead we have.”

“What if we run into more guards?”

“We’ll tell them what you told Christon.”

“You agree to telling more lies?” I asked.

He stared at me for a long moment. “Perhaps you’re rubbing off on me.”

I pressed my body against him. Sadly, our dermasuits prevented any exchange of warmth. “If that’s what you want, you need only ask.”

“Stop it, Keralie.” But he smiled, or at least, I thought it was a smile. It was hard to tell, as I’d never seen him do it before. Then a dimple appeared on each side of his lips and his white teeth flashed. For a moment, I forgot where I was and what I was doing. There was only Varin, and that smile.





CHAPTER THIRTY





Keralie



Varin and I stole through the corridors, avoiding the staff as the palace adjusted to their new blood-soaked reality. We explored every shadowed hallway and every dark corner. I shimmied through multiple vents, and Varin eavesdropped on conversations between guards. We searched and listened and waited for the inspector to make himself known. We checked every room, opened every door that was unlocked and every door that wasn’t. And yet the inspector eluded us.

I was relocking one of the doors I’d picked earlier when two guards rounded the corridor. Their hands swiftly moved to unhook their destabilizers.

“What are you doing?” one guard asked, his gaze on the lock pick in my hand.

“I was—” I began before Varin interrupted.

“We’re checking the doors,” he said with such steadiness, even I would’ve believed him. “We’re trying to work out how an assassin could’ve moved between many locked doors to get to Queen Iris’s garden without anyone noticing.”

“Exactly,” I said, pointing at them with my lock pick. “We’re testing the doors.”

Varin shot me a look I was sure meant shut up.

“And who are you?” the guard asked.

I kept my mouth closed this time.

“We’re helping Christon,” Varin said. “You can check if you need to.”

The second guard nodded and did just that, his hand at his comm line. I tried not to grin when Christon confirmed our story.

“What have you uncovered, then?” the guard asked, latching his destabilizer back onto his belt, deciding we no longer posed a threat.

“Any common criminal could have unlocked these doors,” Varin replied. Common? I forced myself not to glower at him. “But moving about the palace unseen is the trickier part.” He gestured to the two guards in front of us. “The security is unprecedented.” It was true, we’d come across numerous guards. Some had merely nodded at us, our dermasuits the perfect guise; others asked if we were palace guards and what we were doing. Varin dropped Christon’s name anytime we needed to douse suspicion.

“What’s next?” the other guard asked.

Varin glanced at me before replying, “We’re looking for the inspector. We need more details on how Queen Iris was killed.”

I nodded solemnly, although more details were the last thing we needed. We had all the details on the event but none on the executor. Could it be this tweaked inspector we kept hearing about but had yet to see?

“Inspector Garvin is set up in the palace infirmary.” The guard nodded down the corridor. “It’s on the other side of the palace. We’ll escort you there.”

I shook my head slightly, hoping Varin got the hint. Our paper-thin lies were unlikely to fool an inspector.

“That’s all right,” he replied. “I’m familiar with the location. We’ll finish up here, then head to the infirmary.”

I jiggled the doorknob as though I was finishing something.

“Very well,” the guard said. “Good luck to you both.”

Once they’d disappeared around the corridor, I said, “You’re getting good at this.”

He grimaced. “I don’t like the feeling of lying.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Feeling?”

“You know what I mean.”

“It gets easier. Soon you won’t be able to tell the truth from lies.”

A small crease formed on his smooth forehead. “You say that like it’s a good thing.”