Page 36 of A Fable of Riddles and Redemption

Herrick frowned. “I only wish I had stepped in more. Can you forgive me?”

At that point, they had reached her door, the vine-covered shed looking a bit ominous in the increasing darkness. He stood facing her, only a foot between them.

Tilting her head up to better meet his eyes in the dim light, she whispered, “Yes.”

A slight smile lifted his lips as he nodded. For a brief moment, he looked like he wanted to tug her even closer, but he did not. “Excellent. Goodnight, Zorina.”

“Goodnight, Herrick.”

With that, he turned and left. Zorina stared after him for a few minutes, watching until he was out of sight.

Once he was gone, she wrapped her arms around herself as she entered the little hut, her mind whirling while she ate a quick dinner of bread and cheese. Anala joined her inside, chirping happily until they settled into her small bed, the red panda curled up beside her head.

As she began to drift off to sleep, Zorina vaguely thought she heard the faint strains of a flute playing in the distance. She sighed, allowing the softness of the music to lull her to sleep at last.

Chapter twelve

A Disturbing Pattern

Herrick

The next morning, word quickly spread that Megail Giry was missing—and that Jupp had been seen trying—and failing—to flirt with her the night before. With such evidence stacked against him, Jupp was immediately arrested and tossed unceremoniously in the dungeon. Further investigation was pending, but both Duke Armand and Captain Firmin believed protecting the women of Adael took precedence over the guard’s freedom.

Herrick doubted Jupp had the intelligence to pull off that kind of abduction. After all, Carlotta had been completely disoriented when she’d returned. How would Jupp, of all people, have been able to accomplish such a feat? Aside from a blow to the head, that is, and Carlotta had no bumps or bruises.

For another woman to disappear so shortly after Carlotta’s return, however, was highly suspicious. Whatever had happened to the singer seemed to have now happened to the housekeeper’s daughter as well.

It was a disturbing pattern—one Herrick did not like in the least. What, or who, was causing it?

And who would be the next victim?

I have to do everything I can to prevent this from happening again.

But I don’t know how.

He spent the next few days investigating between patrol rounds, per Captain Firmin’s instructions, but there were no clues as to what had happened to Megail, or any indication of where she was. Like Carlotta, she had simply vanished without a trace.

Thankfully, Carlotta seemed to have returned to her usual rude, dramatic, and demanding self, though she still had no memory of her ordeal.

Herrick sat across from the diva in the theatre’s parlor, a small journal in hand for taking notes. “What do you remember before that night?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all!” she bemoaned. “But whatever happened, it must have been the most traumatizing experience anyone has ever faced! Surely no one’s horror can compare to mine!”

He scrunched his brows together. “Do you remember anything?”

“Of course not! It was so terrible that I wiped it from my memory!”

Scribbling some less than flattering notes down, he responded with, “I see. And where did you end up?”

“I don’t know. I only remember waking up in a castle guest room.”

“You don’t remember anyone finding you in the woods?”

Carlotta scoffed. “No, I do not. How many times do I have to tell you this?”

Herrick couldn’t say he was surprised, considering how completely oblivious she’d seemed that night, but he had to be thorough in any case. “And you have no recollection as to where you were or what you were doing before you disappeared?”

“All I remember was that fool who tried to flirt with me in the tavern, and how you showed up to stop him.”