Chapter 34: Sympathy
ÉTIENNE
The study door clicked shut behind Laurent. He carried a tablet under one arm and wore the expression of someone who’d rather be anywhere else at three in the morning. I couldn’t blame him. Sleep had become a foreign concept since the moment I’d felt Margaux’s terror through the bond.
"Got the feed." He set the tablet on my desk and pulled up a chair. "Took some convincing to get the tech team out of bed, but we managed."
I opened my laptop and connected to the secure server where he’d uploaded the footage. The screen flickered once before loading the timestamp from earlier tonight. My quarters appeared in grainy black-and-white, the camera angle capturing most of the bedroom and part of the bathroom entrance.
The footage played forward. It was an empty room, mostly with no moving figures. Then Margaux walked into the frame wearing nothing but her bra and underwear.
My hand shot out and paused the video immediately. Heat crept up the back of my neck in a way that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with the fact that Laurent sat right next to me, staring at the same screen.
"What?" Laurent’s voice carried genuine confusion.
I turned to look at him. He met my gaze with raised eyebrows and the kind of innocent expression that suggested he had no idea why I’d stopped the playback.
"You cannot watch this."
"Watch what?" He leaned closer to the screen. "The security footage you specifically asked me to review with you?"
"She’s..." I gestured vaguely at the frozen image. "She’s not dressed."
Laurent blinked. Once, then twice. Then his stupid mouth curved into something that might have been a smile if he’d been even more stupid to let it fully form.
"We’re trying to help her." His tone stayed reasonable and practical. "You want to figure out who tried to kill your mate. I’m your Beta. This is literally part of my job description."
"First of all, she is not my mate, and I am sure you can find another angle."
"There is no other angle." He settled back in his chair and crossed his arms. "This is the only camera in your quarters."
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
"Plus, I could see something you might not see." Laurent’s voice took on that diplomatic tone he used when he thought I was being unreasonable. "Fresh eyes on the situation. Besides, I promise you, I am not attracted to your wife."
Something ugly twisted in my gut at those words. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It’s a joke." His expression shifted to something more cautious. "I’m trying to lighten the mood because you look like you’re about to put your fist through the desk."
The study door opened before I could respond. Séverine stood in the doorway. Her hair was still mussed from sleep, and she wore the same silk robe from earlier. Her eyes found Laurent first, then me, and something cold flickered across her features.
"Well, it’s not a funny joke."
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Laurent’s jaw tightened in a way I recognized. These two had never really gotten along. The animosity between them ran deep enough that I’d stopped trying to mediate years ago.
"That’s just how Laurent is." I kept my voice light, trying to defuse whatever was building between them. "He has the sense of humor of a twelve year old."
Séverine’s expression didn’t soften. She stepped fully into the study and closed the door behind her with more force than necessary.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"An Omega told me the girl is awake." She moved closer to the desk, her eyes dropping to the paused video on my laptop screen. "I thought you’d want to know."
"Thank you."
The words came out automatically and as politely as I could manage. But my attention had already shifted back to the footage waiting to be reviewed.
"Did you find anything?" Séverine positioned herself behind my chair, close enough that I could smell her perfume. "On the feed?"
"We just started looking."
"I don’t like the girl." She said it matter-of-factly, as if she were commenting on the weather. "But if someone did try to take her out, it scares me. I don’t remember Valcourt ever being unsafe. What could be happening?"
Her hands found my shoulders. The touch was meant to be comforting, but something about it felt wrong. Off in a way I couldn’t quite articulate.
"Don’t think too much about it." I reached up and squeezed one of her hands briefly before returning to the laptop. "We’ll figure out what happened."
"I can’t help it though." Her voice dropped lower. "The thought of just being vulnerable in my sleep and not knowing some freak could want me dead..."
She trailed off. I could feel the tension radiating from her body through where her hands still rested on my shoulders.
"Could it be a rogue from the Alliance Against Rank?" The question came out rushed, like she’d been holding it back. "Those bastards have been getting bolder."
"If that was the case, they wouldn’t have gone for her." I kept my eyes on the screen while I spoke. "They’d have targeted me directly. Or you. Someone actually important to me and to pack operations."
"You never know." Séverine’s grip tightened fractionally. "They might be trying to taunt you somehow. Going after your prey would accomplish that. Right?"
Laurent made a sound that might have been agreement or skepticism. Hard to tell with him sometimes.
"Let me join you guys." Séverine moved around the desk and pulled up another chair, settling in on my other side. "After those bastards killed my mother, I just have a feeling. A suspicion that it could be them."
I reached out and pulled her closer. She leaned into me, and I pressed a kiss to her temple. The gesture felt mechanical. Required rather than desired. But she seemed to take comfort from it, so I let it stand.
"We’ll look together then."
I hit play on the footage.
Margaux moved across the screen in jerky, timestamp-accelerated motion. She walked to the bed and sat on the edge, her shoulders hunched forward in a posture that screamed defeat as she checked out clothes the Omega I had charged to help her out brought to her. She stayed there for several minutes according to the counter in the corner. Just sitting. Staring at nothing.
Then she stood and moved toward the bathroom.
The camera angle captured her entering the doorway but couldn’t see much of the interior beyond. I watched her disappear from view. The bedroom remained empty and sill. With nothing really moving except the timestamp counting forward.
Minutes passed on the recording.
Five.
Ten.
No one entered the bedroom. No one emerged from corners or crawled out from under furniture. The space stayed exactly as it had been after Margaux had walked into the bathroom.
Then I appeared in frame. The timestamp read the exact moment I’d kicked the door in. I watched myself sprint across the room and vanish into the bathroom. Then Séverine came in to check on me when I told her to get help, and right after that, I watched as Laurent and the healers arrived with the stretcher.
The footage ended shortly after.
Séverine let out a long breath beside me. "Thank goddess."
I turned to look at her. She was smiling. Actually smiling like someone had delivered good news instead of unclear results.
"It seems she was just lying to garner your attention."
The words hit wrong. They landed in my chest as stones dropped into still water, sending ripples of discomfort outward.
"She almost died." My voice came out flat and emotionless. "That’s a bit extreme for attention seeking."
"Is it though?" Séverine leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "You humiliated her earlier. Maybe she thought if she made herself the victim, you’d feel guilty enough to go easier on her."