Chasing Royalty (Chasing Royalty Series, #1)

-4-

After our light lunch, Emilienne says, “Would anyone want to accompany me on a walk?”

Violette nods, “I would love to. Admira?”

I smile. “That sounds lovely.”

We rise and politely request that our ladies in waiting would give us some privacy. We slip out into the corridors, to the courtyard where Evette was murdered. It’s deserted, except for a few guards. Either everyone is prohibited from entering or too frightened to venture in.

The guards don’t stop us from exploring the courtyard. They must assume that if we’ve gotten this far, we must be allowed inside. Besides, they don’t have the power to stop us unless it’s a written command from William himself.

We walk to where Evette’s body had lain the night before. Somebody has tried to scrub away the blood, but patches are still crusted in the cracks of the cobblestone.  

Emilienne crouches next to it, “Why would someone do this inside the castle walls and double the risk of the crime?”

Violette shrugs, “The only reason they would do it here was if this was the only place they saw Evette. As a servant, it’s likely that she goes home once a week to visit with family, and the rest of the time she lives in the servants’ quarters. ”

If William, or anyone, murdered Evette as part of the contest, they’d have to do it within the castle walls. If someone is murdered outside of the castle walls, we rarely hear about it.

There are plenty of other people that could have killed Evette. Maybe there was a dangerous romance between her and another servant or guard and it came to a violent end. Maybe she had been bickering with another servant and someone took the disagreement too far. Maybe it was an accident, and whoever did it is too afraid to come forward. I also can’t forget the possibility that she took her own life.

My thoughts flash back to her still corpse of last night. She was unharmed except for a single cut in her neck. Anything could have been used to kill her. A knife. A sharp rock. A knitting needle.

Now that we are here, our little plan of investigation seems foolish. We don’t know what we’re looking for or how to find it. We are just as unqualified as William to be investigators.

“Do you think her death was instantaneous?” Violette asks.

“I don’t think so,” I say. “I think she bled to death from the cut on her neck. I didn’t see any other marks on her. Unless there was another hidden wound.”

“If she bled to death, why didn’t she call for help?” Emilienne stares at the darkened stones.

A deep voice answers Emilienne’s question from across the courtyard. “Maybe she was too weak. She might have called out and no one heard her.”

My head snaps up. A young man with his hands crossed over his chest stands on the other side of the courtyard. When he sees he’s got our attention, he strolls over and bows. “I’m the official investigator of this servant’s death.”

We wordlessly curtsy in return. So William did hire someone besides himself to investigate.

The investigator’s cold green eyes fix on the blood stains. “This is the first time I’ve ever looked into a servant’s death. You must know how it normally is in other kingdoms. The bodies are shipped quietly away and people rarely hear about it. I understand that a death within the castle walls is not a normal thing here?”

Emilienne raises her chin in pride. “We are one of the safest castles in the world. No one’s been killed for centuries. You must understand how a sudden murder concerns all of us, especially when no explanation can be made.”