Chapter 37:
Treason
It’s early morning, and I’m waiting outside Trevus’s office.
“Enter,” he calls.
I step inside. He’s writing at the desk.
“Morning.” I take my spot beside him. Trevus quickly folds the letter over as I approach, hiding its contents from my gaze.
“‘Tis salient that all who labor and reside in this palace are loyal to Versillia,” he says. “Would you not agree, Raylia of Corinth?”
“’Tis salient,” I agree without hesitation. What kind of a question is that? Is he suspicious of someone else, or is he hinting to be careful?
He pours hot green wax over the folded letter, stamps his family crest with his ring and inspects it. “This order is solely for Lord Kerollanus’s hand.” He gives it to me. “’Tis of great importance, for it details where I suspect the Seventh harbors.”
I nod with a plain expression, but my fist curls painfully tight around the hem of my shirt. How could he share information that would put my life in danger?
He straightens the sword on his belt and opens the door. “I shall travel on a private venture until evening. You may have the day.”
He heads down the hallway, leaving me on my own.
I run my finger over the letter, across the intricate, embossed ridges of the wax seal. It looks no different to the dozens of letters I’ve already delivered, but the contents have my full attention. What secrets on this page could help them find me? Trevus knows it’s my dream to have my own tailoring shop. Would he really use the aspirations I shared with him in private to trap me? Does he really want my life to end?
I wander through the halls, my eyes not leaving the sealed letter. Maybe he claimed to know nothing of substance. Would that mean that he still has feelings?
I hold the letter up to the light. The script inside is folded over itself, scrambling away any meaning. I tug at the corners, but it’s fastened in a manner that makes it impossible to glance inside.
If I could just read it, I’d know how he felt. I’d know if he still cares for me the way I do for him.
I turn back towards my private room. I have to know.
Once inside, I block the door with my heavy chest. The goal is to warm the wax without singeing the paper. My first thought is to hold it over a candle flame, but that’ll deposit black soot on the page. Turning the candle upside-down won’t work either, as it will drip white wax over the seal.
I light a fire and place the letter on a skillet. The metal barrier ensures that it warms evenly. With a twisted knife tensioning the fold, the wax soon gives way, preserving the two halves of the seal on either page. I open it.
Dear Kerollanus, Lord of Notam Keep,
Othasianus shall dock in Port Ulisanna on the fourth. She carries barley fit for a thousand men over two fortnights.
I don’t care about their ships. I scan through the rest of the letter – logistics, governing instructions, large battle tactics, but nothing about me. Why would Trevus say the letter was about the Seventh?
My eyes find the broken seal, and my heart jumps. A test?
I place the letter back on the skillet and heat the wax again. With some gentle prodding, the break reconnects. Looking closely at the seal after it’s cooled shows a thin seam where it was split, but it’s only obvious under careful inspection. I doubt Lord Kerollanus pays close attention to every letter he receives.
I douse the fire, move the chest and head downstairs to deliver the letter. My knocks on his door echo through the empty passage.
Lord Kerollanus, a thin man with brown hair, reveals himself. He couldn’t be any older than Trevus – perhaps they met on campaign.
“A letter from Prince Trevus of Cerillis.” I hand it over.
He places it on a pile on his desk.
“The prince wishes that you read it immediately,” I say. It’s a lie, but if he opens it in a hurry, there won’t be an opportunity to look too closely at the seal.
“Your concern is acknowledged.” He closes the door, leaving the letter untouched.
I’ve distributed many sealed orders on Trevus’s behalf, even one to Lord Kerollanus. With so many letters traversing this palace, most can’t be thoroughly inspected. My intrusion left no more than a minor seam across the wax.
Regardless of the risk, it’s out of my hands. I’m not leaving this palace without julite in hand.
I’m left despondent after an unsuccessful day of scouring the palace for julite. The evening air is getting chilly, so I head back to my room.
Borrowing a candlestick from the passage wall, I light the lamp in my room and close the door.
“Even of your first day, an aspect about you has been amiss,” a voice says.
My spine stiffens. Trevus steps out of the shadow. He’s in my room. Why?
“An element within you has been less than candid, an element that is not Versillian.” The letter is in his hand – still sealed. He knows that I opened it. He knows that I’m not here to be a servant.
My eyes jump to the door handle, then back to him, then to the sword on his hip. He wouldn’t use that blade on me? Even if I’m a spy, I’m unarmed.
“Perhaps that was your draw,” he says.
He steps forward. I back away, but his hand snaps to my bicep. “Treason is a capital offense,” he growls.
He whips the door open and twists my arm around, forcing me out into the halls. I yelp. The strain on my shoulders presses my body forward.
I’m frogmarched through the hallway and down the stairs. His strength is immense. If I touched his bare hand, I could get away. But people would notice, and Trevus would soon wake up. I’d have to flee the palace without any julite. It’s still a better fate than death.
We reach the ground floor. I twist my head around to see him. “Are you going to take my life?”
He pushes me out the west door. “I am ridding the palace of you,” he says. We’re heading for the front silver gates.
He forces me through the gardens – the shortest path to the gates. My eyes snap to the wooden arch embedded with rahlite. Half a dozen guards are waiting at the base.
“Should I see your face again, I shall not hesitate to send you to trial,” he says. He thinks expelling me from the palace will spare my life, but walking under that arch only guarantees my arrest and execution.
We’re only yards away. The soldier’s attention is on us. If I put Trevus to sleep now, the guards will rush to his aid. If Trevus pushes me further, the rahlite will glow.
“Jade sent a message for you!” I blurt out.
Trevus stops.
I twist my body around, fighting his grip.
“That name. How?” His eyes are wide, his body still.
My gaze drops to the ground for a moment. I hate lying to him.
He grabs my other arm tight and pulls us face-to-face. “How!?”
“She awaited on my route in the city – yesterday, at the potter,” I say.
He looks over my head to the gates. He wants to go searching.
“She left Lystra,” I say, “to where she kept hidden.” The city is huge. Even an army would struggle to comb it.
“The message?” His grip is tight. No words have ever mattered more than the ones I’m about to share.
“Jade says she is-” my voice breaks for a moment. I’ve been wanting to tell him for weeks. His pain over the last ten years and the anguish at Nepolis was never my intention. I wish more than anything that it could be undone. “She is sorry.”
His face falls. He releases his grip, and his gaze returns to the gate.
What’s running through his head – anger, relief, disappointment? His stoic expression betrays nothing.
“You and she are alike,” he says. His eyes don’t leave the city outside. “Very much alike.”
My heart is drumming against my chest. He knows I act like Jade, and now I’ve admitted to colluding with her. Could he see past my morphed visual appearance – something I thought impossible just weeks ago? Every sense in his body is telling him I
am
Jade, with only his eyes saying otherwise.
He turns back towards the palace. “Perhaps ‘tis the reason she selected you.” He begins walking. “And perhaps ‘tis the same reason I did.”
I stay still, just a short leap from the gates and the soldiers that guard it. Trevus enters the palace again, not looking back.
My breathing slows. He’s not going to shove me through the gates. My identity will hold a little while longer. His attention has shifted to someone far more important – Jade.
He didn’t choose me from the line up of assistants because my conversation amused him, but because I reminded him of Jade. He may have thrown the flower out the window, but he still brought it back to Lystra. When asked about it, he wants to forget everything that happened between us, but in those moments free of thought, he doesn’t let go.
Author’s Note:
Does Trevus miss Jade, and does he wish he didn’t? What do you think of this chapter?
Agree
Exactly
We hope
Agreed
Yes
Agreed
Yes
YES!
@rileysing Yay, but how close!?!
I think he misses her, and just maybe she should’ve showed him her real identity in her room
Loved the chapter, so exciting. I love to have this feeling when I read hahaha
I can’t handle it! I need the chapter when he discovers her or calls her out. Feels like an eternity, still good though
Of course he misses her, and of course I lived the chapter
I loved it. Just like the rest of the book. Can’t wait for more
Girl, just go back to his mother’s memorial site 😭
Girl, just go back to his mother’s memorial site 😭
There’s a lot of people in the world, some people are alike in nature
Girly….
welp, now he’s going to find out
UGH I need them back together A S A P
Just act really dumb and confused, it works XD
I wonder WHY🤔
You’re the most suspicious woman on earth that’s why lmao
Girl! Least observant person XD
Girl, don’t do anything lok
oh my goodness😭🥹
ANXIETY
my ANXIETY
Also was just thinking and the sheer trauma of realising she’s Jade, the love of his life as he’s the who pushed her into danger and revealed who she was (she could only be the seventh I’m guessing with her stature) and then just as he realizes who she is the guards would too and would rain down arrows on her
He would have seen her die in front of him and partly been the cause. And all the while he wouldn’t be able to say a thing or be upset really since saying he loved her would be treason.
It would be so traumatic…
Trevus still loves Jade,how many times should I say this🥹🥹…I don’t know if he has discovered that his attendant is Jade. Given that she lied, maybe that doused all his suspicions🤔….urgh!!!!! Damn it all😩
Yes, it’s very well written and the story is just very intriging. Keeps you wanting for more
It’s honeslty an epic story!
Cause he loves you…
Yes and yes… both are a yes lmao
Yeah you definitely picked her cause she reminds you of your love, as though to ease the pain of Jade being gone from your life
Almost like they are the same person aye
Aw, that’s sweet… she really does care about him and I know he still cares about Jade too
and now I have to wait for the next update 😅. this is getting so exciting.
Does he not know that she is Jade? Or is this whole thing a dramatic show?
So he’s letting her escape? Helping her escape… afterall a capital offense means she would die if anyone else found out.
Does that mean that guy is on Trevus’s side in this since he didn’t open the letter right away and knows about the crime but hasn’t pushed for her to be locked up for the offense?
Yeah Trevus must have discussed the issue with the man she delivered the letter too… and so he checked it and got back to Trevus that it had in fact been opened
Trevus?
I’m sure he does pay close attention considering the messages may contain start or military top information…
Yes, a test… or a trap you’ve fallen right into
I feel like there’s a reason he told her this letter is associated with the seventh… some kind of secret message that would only make sense with that context?
You got played lmao…
Nothing to do with you and now he will find out you opened the letter cause I doubt you’ll be able seal it correctly.
I know you want to know what’s inside but it really isn’t okay to open private mail between officials in a castle… even if you weren’t Jade you’d be in a lot of trouble.
Honestly I feel like he might be drawing the hunt away from her true location and buying her time.
Though I also think this is a test to see if she checks and therefore is Jade lol
yes, to see if she looks or still delivers it…
this is a test