It was a few scattered pages. Different sizes, edges torn from where he'd ripped them off other things, gathering them like a magpie. They even had writing from their original purpose in some places, Finn's scribbles filling the blank space around them.
It wasn't anything official or that he'd planned to show anyone. A lot of it had been crossed out or written over repeatedly. Finn's scattered thoughts about the investigation as it started until the day they'd run into the thieves in the Vault it seemed. He'd written about the beginning of the investigation, the miasma and Chenzhou's failing health, about the pendant and watching Eirian destroy it. He'd made a note about finding out the origin of the pendant, but he'd crossed it out and written 'destroyed' right after it.
Maybe Chenzhou knew something about it that could be useful? Or Marian.
There might even be something in the more recent Histories. Eirian hadn't gotten around to reading those yet, but maybe she should move that back up the priority list.
Yuze walked over and peered over her shoulder. "Notes?"
Eirian nodded. "I need to ask Chenzhou about his pendant?"
"The one he inherited from his mother?" When she nodded, he leaned back, thoughtful. "He has a few other personal items he inherited from his parents. They might be useful."
Eirian flipped over the page and found a series of half-formed sentences about possible motivations. He'd written half a dozen ideas down and then crossed them out.
All but one.
Sacrifice.
It was circled and underlined.
Finn had been smarter than even he realized, Eirian thought. Based on the timeline of his notes, he'd come to this conclusion well before Eirian and Chenzhou had realized there was even a conspiracy. Perhaps if she'd listened to him sooner, they'd have been able to get ahead of what was happening.
Her own arrogance had blinded her, and she had no one to blame but herself.
But sacrifice?
What was being sacrificed?
And to what? Or for what?
Finn had written this even before the ambush of Mingzhe's forces…
She let Yuze take the other pages as she stared at the dark ink.
Sacrifice?
Sacri-
Her heart skipped a beat, then started to pick up speed until it was hammering in her chest.
Sacrifice.
A sacrifice.
A person could be a sacrifice. Someone the conspirators could use. The poor fool wouldn't even have to know what was happening, but they could be pitted against Chenzhou and the Camelia without even realizing it. Or someone could be killed and the blame laid at Chenzhou's feet.
It was hard, but not impossible, to frame someone for something like that, but she needed to figure out how it fit into a plan to target Chenzhou.
The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed that they would try to frame Chenzhou for a murder. Or a death of any kind, really. The likelihood that they could plant enough evidence or witnesses when he was always being watched so heavily was practically improbable, and quite frankly, murder was often excused when it was the nobility. Unless there was someone else in the nobility who wanted to use it as leverage.
It was more likely they'd use the sacrifice to undermine Chenzhou's authority or the population's trust in him.
But who was the sacrifice?
Mingzhe was the only one being targeted outright, but Chenzhou had been careful not to show any outright favoritism towards him. Eirian wasn't stupid enough to think that there wasn't any, but as long as Chenzhou followed the law and any ruling suggested by the High Court, there wouldn't be enough to take his position away.
Unless Chenzhou stepped in at the final hour and saved Mingzhe from any consequences if he was found guilty based on these rumors.
Did this explain the effort that was going into bringing down Mingzhe? They'd been confused about his being targeted in the beginning; maybe this was why?
Maybe Mingzhe had been targeted solely because he'd grown close to Chenzhou?
"Finn had excellent raw instincts," Yuze murmured.
Eirian glanced at him and realized he was following her train of thought perfectly. "He did. I should have listened more."
"We all should have." Yuze sighed. "Rat's still looking for Emmy and Patrick. Hopefully, he finds them soon. They might know more about what he was thinking."
Eirian wasn't religious, but she sent up a short prayer that the two kids were alright and would be found soon. "We're either attributing far too much intelligence to whoever is behind this, or not nearly enough."
Yuze snorted. "That's always how it feels until you know exactly what happened."
She arched an eyebrow. "And how often do you ever find that out?"
He gave her a crooked grin. "Almost never."
A huff made them both start. Kai Low appeared at Yuze's side, far too close and frowning at both of them.
Eirian bit back a laugh. There was still nothing subtle about the Bandri, but somehow Yuze was still missing it.
Ran Orlo appeared at Kai Low's side, unconsciously mimicking his Uncle's posture and expression, even though Eirian doubted the boy knew what was happening.
Granted, she didn't have any faith that Kai Low and Yuze knew what was happening either.
Why were men so stupid?
That was probably cruel.
Not all men were like that.
And they weren't stupid so much as oblivious.
Thank god Chenzhou wasn't like that.
Or Mingzhe.
She stopped.
Maybe she was a little biased.
But just a little.
"This explains why Mingzhe is being targeted." Yuze ignored Kai Low. "And it's more support for our theory that Chenzhou is the real target. It doesn't help us figure out who it is, though." He showed her the back of one of the pages she hadn't seen. "He sketched the crest of the thieves he saw in the Vault. It's the Yang crest."
Eirian recognized it, despite Finn's complete lack of skill as an artist. "It's gone too, though."
Yuze nodded sadly. "And we have no way of knowing if it was real or a forgery. Both are good reasons to steal it."
Kai Low looked between. "You lot keep saying it couldn't be these Yangs, but it seems like there's a lot saying it is."
Yuze frowned. "You don't understand-"
Kai Low rolled his eyes. "I understand you think you already know everything, but now it seems like you're ignoring what's right in front of you."
Eirian shared a look with Yuze.
Kai Low was…annoyingly…not completely off base.
Were they ignoring the obvious?
~ tbc