Page 172 of Esperance

“This is insane,” Trevill repeated tersely. “The ravings of a madwoman!”

“You never did make good progress in your investigations,” the high cleric said. “You kept blaming me—my people, my clerics. But you knew who it was all along, and you deflected everything away from the killer becauseyouhired her.”

“There is absolutely no proof of any of this,” Trevill ground out. “No proof at all!”

“He wrote the notes,” Marriset whispered. “They’re in his hand. The same handwriting on the letter in my room—a piece of correspondence that will prove he contacted me for my services.”

Amryn felt the second Trevill made his decision to run, but he didn’t make it more than a step before Jayveh’s bodyguards grabbed him.

“Zacharias,” the princess said, her eyes hard on Trevill. “Does this temple have a prison?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The high cleric smiled, and his flicker of glee was a little nauseating as he said, “It will be my pleasure to see it put to use.”

Chapter 44

Carver

It was late by the time Carverfinished helping Jayveh make arrangements to leave Esperance in the morning.

Frankly, Carver couldn’t wait to leave this accursed temple behind forever.

When he finally stepped back into their suite, he wondered if Amryn would be asleep, but he saw the glow of a lamp around the bedroom door.

She was waiting for him on the bed.

Her trunks had been packed, along with his, and she sat on the center of the bed reading from a small book.

She looked up as he entered. “Has Trevill confessed?”

“No.”

She bit her lower lip. “He’s guilty, Carver. I felt it.”

“I believe you.” He sat on the edge of the bed, every part of his body feeling heavy. “Marriset didn’t make it.”

“Jayveh told me. She came by to check on me earlier.” Her brow furrowed. “She also said Ivan found the letter Marriset mentioned.”

He nodded. “It’s pretty damning. Trevill might not need to actually confess at this point. We’ve compared his handwriting to the note left with Cora, and the one Marriset was going to leave here.” After she killed Amryn.

Residual fear knifed him, and he had to push it aside.

Amryn was safe.

“What about the message left after the tea was poisoned?” she asked.

“The script is messier than his journal, which we used to compare—almost like he wrote the notes in his non-dominant hand. But the similarities are unmistakable. It was him.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why did Trevill want to ruin the peace? He wasn’t part of the Rising.”

Carver tipped his head, allowing that because it was unlikely Trevill had been part of the rebels; Tam would have probably mentioned him in all her ravings to Amryn, if he had been. And while his goal may have aligned with the Rising’s, he had certainly gone about things in a bloodier way. “The Craethen Council was essentially replacing him and the other chancellors as the emperor’s primary advisors,” Carver said. “We were taking his place—his voice, and his power. In our first meeting as a council, Trevill told us the chancellors would be our advisors, but by default that meant he would no longer be as important to the emperor. He didn’t want the council to be formed, so he hired an assassin to make sure everything here failed.”

He took a breath. “When I laid out these possible motivations to Trevill, he denied them vehemently. He said he’d agreed to come here to help the council succeed, and he claimed he wouldn’t have come at all if he didn’t want the council to exist. But it only makes sense that he came herebecausehe wanted things to fail. He knew the emperor couldn’t be swayed, so Trevill must have decided to appear to embrace the idea. Saints, he may have even volunteered to come here, just to make sure everything failed.”

Amryn released a slow breath. “How could he do such evil things just to keep his power in the emperor’s court?”

“Some men crave power more than anything. For an ambitious man like Trevill, losing even some of his influence would have been enough to make him desperate.” Carver reached out and brushed a curl from her bruised cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “I’m just glad Ivan figured out Marriset was the killer, and that he didn’t hesitate in coming to protect you.” He frowned. “Why was Felinus here?”

Amryn closed the book in her hands. “I’m not sure you’re going to like the answer.”