I slowly took a step back.
Fuck.
So he really had been there. Unless she was lying too, which felt unlikely, Mr. Marble had an alibi after all. Maybe I really had been grasping at shadows and trying too hard to force the blame onto him. I still could not understand how Jelda had been teleported, but that did not automatically make him guilty.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"Where are you going?" she asked, irritation creeping into her voice. "Get over here."
"I'll pass." I forced a weak smile. "Good luck, though."
"You'll pass?" she repeated in disbelief. "Are you serious? How dare you talk with the Queen's si—"
"Ace!" a guard called from farther down the corridor. "Where is he?"
"Looks like they're calling me." I said. "Nice meeting you."
"You little—"
