Chapter 29

Caleb had refused to speak to me for a few days, which I found both infuriating and slightly freeing. We needed to be working together, but with the Alpha Ball coming up so closely, it gave me a little bit more time to get my own work done to be sure it would be a success.

I waved to him as I left that morning, and got only a disgruntled nod in return. I rolled my eyes, and left for the bridal shop where I had planned a meeting with Joseph.

The bell on the door jingled as I entered, and I was struck with a heavy smell of roses and flowers. “Joseph?” I called, doubling over into a coughing fit.

“Coming!” His voice shouted from farther inside the building. “Sorry, I know it’s strong, I had a delivery of wedding flowers this morning and I haven’t had a chance to put them in the flower cooler yet.”

He appeared from behind a screen, his arms stuffed with dozens of bursting red roses. “I’ll just toss them here,” he muttered, throwing them undelicately on the waiting area couches at the front of the shop. “Alright, wedding time!”

I laughed, my throat still a little ticklish from the flowers. “What did you want to discuss?”

He gestured for me to follow him, and led me through a winding hallway to a room full from floor to ceiling of gardenias in every color imaginable. I gasped, shocked and touched.

“Where did you find these?” I asked, breathless, running up to touch their petals and inhale the sweet perfume. Gardenias were one of the most common flowers in Prenia, and one of the flowering plants my parents had brought with them to their estate here.

Joseph watched me scurry between the flower pots with a grin on his face. “I had them ordered specially. They’re usually white or cream, but I had found a grower who was able to produce a much larger variety, as you can see.”

I pulled a deep purple one from the wall, which had a deeply floral, earthy scent. My mind was washed over with memories of my childhood, playing in the gardens and picking flowers at the edge of the woods in Prenia.

“Oh Joseph,” I said, turning to face him.

“They’re just a test run to see if you like them. I know wedding planning hasn’t been on the top of your mind recently, so I thought I’d take it upon myself to help you with this.”

“They’re perfect.”

He clapped his hands excitedly, “I was hoping you would say that. Especially since you and Caleb both have history with Prenia—“

“Caleb what?”

“—I thought it would be great to have something for the both of you like this.” Joseph continued on as if he hadn’t heard me.

Before I could push farther he started babbling on again about the grower and their flower farms. What history does Caleb have with Prenia exactly?

We spent a few hours discussing possible flower arrangements and color palettes, and even though Caleb wasn’t there to participate in the decisions, I was confident we were able to put together some solid ideas before the end of the day.

“Well, I should probably get going soon,” I said finally, as Joseph packed up his wedding notebooks back into the filing shelves.

“Actually, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you here today.” joseph said slowly, glancing behind us like he was worried someone else might have wandered into the shop despite the Closed sign posted on the back of the door.

“What is it?”

“Follow me,” he said, waving me on. I remembered the route taking us to the secret office space behind the shop, where we had met before with Caleb as well.

When Joseph sat down and logged into his computer, the several monitor screens all exploded into light, revealing a series of documents and images with CLASSIFIED watermarks printed across them.

“What is this?” I asked, amazed.

“These are the intelligence notes I have been compiling over the last month. We have known for a while now that someone wants to sabotage the Alpha Ball, and we also know that they have something to do with Lucas, but I haven’t been able to put everything together.”

“Have you shown Caleb this?” I said.

Joseph nodded grimly. “He doesn’t know what to make of it either. His group of supporters have been convinced it was you who wanted to ruin Caleb’s chances, but obviously looking at this nothing supports that theory.”

His words put me at ease, but the question still remained of who we had to look out for. “Do you have any suspects at the moment?”

“None that make any sense.” He pulled up a new tab with a series of receipts printed in red text. “Do you see these? These are fraudulent purchases that have been made by someone working in the Lycan King’s castle.”

“And no one else has noticed?”

Joseph shook his head. “They’ve been covering their tracks well, you have no idea how difficult it was to get my hands on these.”

I scanned through the documents as Joseph explained.

“All we know is that money has been exchanged for poisons and acids. They weren’t authorized by the medical team, so it had to be someone who wanted them for nefarious purposes.” He pointed to the bottom of one of the receipts. “Do you see this?” He asked.

“Which part?”

“The signature here.” He tapped the screen with his pen. “This name is the only clue we have, but it doesn’t appear anywhere on the list of castle employees. I’ve cross checked it with all the vendors who come in and out of the castle, and it doesn’t appear in any of their information either. Ruby?”

I couldn’t hear him any more. The blood rushing through my ears was too loud.

“I know that name.” I said,

“What?” Joseph said, sounding genuinely shocked.

Killback. The name was written in looping cursive script with green ink. Before I had been reborn, Lucas had a violent mercenary agent who would complete any and all of his worst demands. I was only aware of a few murders he had committed, but I knew there must have been many more.

“It’s a nickname.” I said slowly, still horrified by the revelation. “He’s one of Lucas’s agents, and it’s the name he uses during secret operations. That’s why it hasn’t appeared anywhere else in the castle documents.”

Joseph sputtered, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. “Do you know his real name? What he looks like?”

“Grey Souther.” I said, breathing deeply. “I could pick out his face in my sleep.”

Joseph nodded, “We need to act. The poison deliveries have been coming every Thursday night for the last month.”

”That’s tomorrow night,” I said, thinking quickly. “Whatever we do we have to take precautions. He’s a strong fighter, and I don’t think he has ever failed a mission Lucas gave him.”

”There’s a first time for everything,” Joseph said. “And I think Killback is about to have one of his firsts.”