Page 74 of Exiled Heir

The trouble was, I didn’t have anything of equal value, or at least nothing I could sacrifice.

You didn’t win a chess game by sacrificing your queen when a pawn would do.

“And Cade just fired Keith.” I said the last with false glumness, as though simply mourning the loss of information.

“I heard it all went down in the middle of the night,” Louis said. He pulled over a bowl of fruit, popping a grape into his mouth.

“Keith was listening at doorways when he shouldn’t be. Cade found out he was selling information.” I twisted another ball of pasta. “You don’t know anything about that, do you?”

“Listening at doorways? No. Believe it or not, the kitchen keeps me busy enough that I never even see doorways except for that one.” He pointed to the entry to the kitchen.

“Still, I’m sure plenty of little birdies come tell you secrets thattheyhear listening in doorways.” I put the pasta in my mouth.

“The only birds in my kitchen are ones I’m about to cook.” Louis gestured vaguely toward his ear. “If you’re looking for someone whodoeshear all the gossip, you need to talk to Rhys.”

“Rhys is a mage. Keith was a servant. I betyou’dknow who he was selling information to more than Rhys would.” When Louis started to pull back, eyes narrowing, I shrugged. “From one person who’s heard lots of birds sing to another.”

“All I know was that he liked to go into the city on his day off. I always thought it was a girlfriend, maybe a boyfriend, but he always had airs.” Louis rolled his eyes. “Thought he was better than the rest of us just because his family had been serving House Bartlett for the past hundred-some-odd years.”

I finished the last of the pasta, pushing the plate forward. “Thanks. It was delicious.”

I heard the back door of the house open, footsteps coming down the long hallway. A man in a rough work shirt stopped at the entry to the kitchen, a box full of vegetables in his hands.

“Where’s Jesaiah?” Louis asked, blinking.

“Out sick,” the man said. He glanced at me, the grooves between his brows going even deeper.

He smelled human, the dirt under his nails fresh and his skin pinked from the sun. I smiled at him, but he still glared.

I raised my hand at Louis before heading toward the back door.

In the back, I hesitated for a moment. I should go check out the garage, talk to the mechanic myself, or check in with Jay to let him know what Cade had told the servants. But birdsong caught my attention. The tall trees rustled from the wind.

I headed into the forest.

The birds quieted as I approached, and brush rustled quickly as some small woodland creature hurried to escape. When I inhaled, every scent of the forest filled my nose. My shoulders relaxed.

I found the path we had taken the night before easily, and my eyes tracked the footsteps. I didn’t see any fresh ones; the morning dew would have made them deeper and darker than the ones we had left the night before. Tracking in the forest was different than tracking in the city. Some things were more obvious, while others were a complete mystery to me.

I followed our steps, all the way to the three cabins. They looked more ominous in the daytime.

The thick cinder block walls were placed on concrete pads that stretched between the three cabins. The roofs were silver metal, sloped to avoid pooling water but rusting in patches of orange red.

In the daytime, you could see what the cabins were: prisons. I would ask how many bodies were buried behind them in the endless forest, but the night before had taught me better.

Ashes were the only thing left behind from the people who had gone into those cabins kicking and screaming. With the daylight filtering through the high canopy, I walked around the cabin. My assessment the night before had been accurate. No one had gotten in without magic. There were no holes, no one had dug under the foundation, and everything on the outside looked secure.

I tried the door and found it still unlocked. Other than the heavy iron chains attached to the concrete floor, the prison cell was completely empty. There was no sign that Keith had ever been there, no indication that this was where he had died.

Even the scent of blood was gone. I examined the walls for any sign of magic—spellwork, traces of the tattooed lines that Cade used. Nothing.

I left the dark, small little cell and approached the other two. Neither was locked, which surprised me. I would have to ask Jay about it. He’d implied he needed keys to open the cells, meaning they should be locked.

When I opened the middle cell, it was completely empty except for a thick layer of dust coating the floor. The walls were water stained, indicating a ceiling leak. Nothing else in the cell was helpful.

At the third cabin, I was hit with the scent of animal urine as soon as I opened the door. A quick check revealed a hole where the roof met the wall. When I approached it, I could see scraps of paper and twigs, nesting material for a rat or some other rodent.

As I turned, a glint caught my eye. I walked back to the nest, ignoring the sound of several animals scurrying away. Reaching up, I dug through the nesting material until I found the shiny bit of metal.