Page 69 of Esperance

Carver ground his teeth. “You don’t need to break her things. I don’t have anything in there.”

“Ah, yes,” the high cleric said at once, as if seizing on Carver’s words. “You bring up another relevant fact—you don’t share a bed with your wife. I learned this when I questioned the servants who clean your suite. You’ve been sleeping on the settee.”

Argent’s eyes narrowed. Trevill looked uncomfortable.

Carver just felt anger. “You’re spying on me?”

“I’m keeping track ofallof you, as the emperor instructed me to do. So tell us: why don’t you sleep with your wife?”

His question made the back of Carver’s neck itch, and he hated that every eye in the room leapt to him. “That’s none of your business.”

“It is, in fact. My duty is to make sure these marriages succeed, and that everyone at Esperance complies with the emperor’s will. The fact that you aren’t being a true husband tells me a great deal about you, and your disregard for orders.”

“This is absurd.” Argent took a step forward. “Carver’s commitment to this peace, let alone the empire, cannot be questioned. He’s a blasted war hero.” He looked between Trevill and Zacharias. “I know you want to be done with this—declare a murderer, and move on—but I assure you, Carverdid notkill Cora.”

“Idowant to find Cora’s murderer,” Trevill said, his voice low but firm. “I want to be done with this investigation so we can all move on. But I won’t let that determination blind me to the truth. So, please let me ask my questions, so we can clear Carver, if he is indeed innocent.”

Argent crossed his arms, but didn’t relax his stance. “Very well. But I’m not going anywhere.”

Carver appreciated his friend’s defense, but he wasn’t exactly worried. He hadn’t killed Cora, for one thing. And their search would render nothing incriminating, because he’d hidden his dagger back under the tree in the garden after his visit to Ford. Not to mention, their presented motives—at least so far—were ridiculous.

“Carver, where were you the morning Cora was killed?” Trevill asked.

“I was here. As I already told you when you first asked me.”

“Can anyone vouch for that?”

“Amryn can.”

The high cleric opened his mouth—probably to say something that would make Carver want to punch him in the teeth—but Trevill cut him off. “You were with her all morning?” he pressed.

“No,” Carver said. “I visited Argent and Jayveh.”

“A strong alibi to secure,” the high cleric noted. “But you could have killed Cora before going to visit them.”

“Yet I didn’t.”

“How did you cross paths with Ivan?” Trevill asked. He seemed to be ignoring the high cleric entirely, which wasn’t a bad strategy.

Carver forced himself to take a breath. “After I left Argent and Jayveh, I returned to my suite to find Amryn gone. I went looking for her, and I met Ivan on the stairs. He told me he was returning from a run.”

“So, he was on his way up to his rooms while you were headed down?” Trevill clarified.

“Yes.”

“But you convinced him to change course?”

“Yes. I felt like sparring, and he decided to join me.”

“Or perhaps you simply wanted to be with him when Cora’s body was discovered,” the high cleric inserted.

Carver’s eyes narrowed. “For the last time, I didn’t kill her.”

Trevill settled his weight back on his heels. “According to the timeline I’ve established, the last person to see Cora alive was her maid. Ivan had already gone on his run before the maid left. Cora had no plans to leave her room, at least that’s what she told her maid. It is my estimation that Cora must have left her rooms just prior to your visit with Prince Argent.”

“I was with Amryn from the time she woke up until the moment Argent knocked on my door,” Carver said.

“You could have snuck out before Amryn woke,” the high cleric said.