Page 88 of House of Salt and Sorrows
“Don’t you? You told me someone killed Eulalie. You shouted at me and all of Astrea that Edgar was pushed. Don’t you suspect foul play here?”
I frowned, horrified. “No…Eulalie…that was someone else. Someone who was jealous of Edgar and…But Rosalie and Ligeia…they’d gone dancing. They were just caught in the storm….”
“Were they?” Fisher asked, his voice brusque but not unkind. “You said you saw three sets of tracks in the snow….”
“That was Lenore,” I said readily before realizing how feeble it sounded.
“Why would only Lenore make it back?” Fisher leaned in close. “You know she wouldn’t have left them.”
“But the berry branch in her hair—”
“Could have been planted later.”
I imagined a great, hulking shadow stealing into my sister’s room as she slept, leaving behind a single twig, and shuddered.
“You think the third set of footprints were from the killer? Eulalie’s killer?”
He nodded.
My mind spun, trying to remember all the reasons I’d thought Eulalie’s murderer had been an unrequited love. If it hadn’t, if my theory had been wrong…
“If Rosalie and Ligeia really were murdered…that means none of us are safe,” I whispered.
Glancing out the window, I saw Verity and Mercy patiently listening to Papa talk with the High Mariner, and my stomach plummeted. Someone could be after them. Someone who…
The final carriage pulled into the courtyard. Cassius stepped down, offering his hand to assist Camille and Honor. He gave our coach a lingering look before escorting them inside.
“How much do we really even know about him?” Fisher asked unhappily. “I mean, your father didn’t even know Corum had a son until he showed up. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
My head hurt, a sudden migraine brought on by the icy chill and the accusations swirling in the air. “It’s a little suspicious, I admit. But it doesn’t mean he’s a killer.”
“True, but…”
I held up my hand, stopping him. “I have to ask this, Fisher…. You’re not saying any of this because…because I chose him over you?”
His mouth dropped open. “Of course not! How can you even think I would…” He put his hand on the door of the carriage, ready to throw it open and leave me.
“Wait! I’m just saying…” I blew out a long breath, shaking my head. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I…I’ll think it over, all right?”
Fisher’s eyes burned into mine.
“What? Right now?”
He shrugged. “Do you have something else more pressing?”
Sighing, I tried to remember that day. “You and Sterland were in the maze with Regnard and Ethan, weren’t you?”
“For most of the morning.”
I counted them off on my fingers. Ivor had been upstairs, searching for clues about our worn-out slippers. Another tick.
“Jules was in the stables with Cassius, I think,” I said. Even as I said it, my mind flashed to Cassius coming in alone. His cheeks had been bright red, as though he’d been out in the cold for quite some time.
Why?
The stables weren’t a far walk from the house, and they were heated with banks of coals for the horses.
“You’re certain you went by the berry bushes?”
