“She’s lying,” Nate said with a snort.
Trent sighed and held me close. “I know. She’s stubborn when she wants something.”
“Always has been.” Nate started to move for the door. “And one more thing. Alecia thought this was interesting. I’m not sure how it would work.”
“How what would work?” Trent asked.
“She says she overheard Myrddin talking about the fact that there’s another reason he doesn’t want the sword falling back into Kelsey’s hands,” Nate began. “Apparently back when he was studying the sword, he cut himself on it.”
Oh, that was news I wanted to hear. “Are you kidding me? Like he bled on Gladys?”
“Yes.” Nate made it to the door with a yawn. “He cut himself, and that means his power is stored inside her, too. But his power is magical. Wouldn’t it take a person who can wield magic?”
I would have to think on that. I might be taking some classes. “I would love to find out.”
“I would, too, but we have to be careful. Of course none of it matters if we can’t find the sword.” Trent moved to my side. “I’d like to be informed when your spy goes in again. Is there any way she could be there today? With the royals being in Dallas it might help to have another spy in the building.”
“Another? Please tell me you’re not talking about Jack the Ripper.” I’d been informed Alexander Sharpe was playing both sides. I didn’t trust him at all. I certainly didn’t like the idea of the queen being forced to rely on him.
“No, we’re talking about someone else. Someone who will help Zoey and Lee,” Nate replied. “She’s been in the building for years. And unfortunately Alecia can only pull off the fly thing about once a month. It’s so small. She’s training to handle it more often, but it would be dangerous today. If I’d known the queen was planning a heist, I would have held her back.”
But then we might not know about Myrddin’s power being contained in the sword. “The queen knows what she’s doing. Can we contact her?”
“They’re in lockdown,” Nate explained. “I can contact the king if I need to, but the queen can’t go into the building with a cell.”
I would like to have had a talk with her before she’d gone on that mission. I knew she was looking for the sword, but if she could find this map that Sarah Day might have left behind, it would be helpful. I would likely have to plan my own foray into enemy territory. At least I knew I would have a little friend who could help me out. When Alecia was ready, I would send her in to look for anything even vaguely resembling a map.
But for now my brother had to get back to his wife, and I had to figure out who’d killed Relda because I was sure it wasn’t Jade.
I hugged my brother and noticed that Evan was sitting awfully close to the bedroom door, a book in her hand.
I frowned her way, and she gave me a sort of apologetic smile as though to say what did you expect me to do.
I had to face the fact that all the kids were trained spies, and they felt the need to listen in. Because they’d learned information was the only thing that could save them sometimes. I looked down at the queen’s daughter. “I’m getting dressed and then we’ll go and talk to Jade. If you have any questions about what you heard, you can talk to me then.”
I wasn’t going to punish or shame her for something that had been bred into her by the men who raised her. Besides, if Fenrir had wanted to hear the conversation, he could have from several rooms away. Same with Trent or most of the people in Evan’s life.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have listened in,” Evan admitted. “I only heard what was said after Trent walked in.”
“Because he would have caught you before?”
She shrugged.
“Well, you missed a talk with my brother about how he’s afraid of being a dad to a shifter and he thinks it was Jade.” I brought the princess up to date.
“It wasn’t Jade.” Evan got to her feet. “Kelsey, I know her.”
“Then let’s prove it.”
Evan nodded. “Let’s prove it.”
And we would. After breakfast because my appetite was back.