The musty scent of the old book in front of Maude was comforting in a way that she had never experienced before. In the weeks past Jaspar’s revelation that her father had murdered her mother, Maude had decided to take up a new hobby–reading. It was something she had never been allowed to do all that much of, and within weeks, she’d devoured dozens of books, fiction and nonfiction. She had never realized before that her mind could be starved. She has been ravenous, but never knew the sheer amount of knowledge and enjoyment there was to be gained from reading.

After deciding that she had to be of help somehow to the war effort, she had realized that now was her opportunity to learn all that she could about war strategy. So many people had informed her at one point or another that it was a shame she had never learned it since it was something they suspected she’d excel at, and now cooped up as a prisoner of war, she finally had her opportunity to sit down and learn.

Yet people had also failed to inform her of the level of complexity that was involved with war strategy. “It’s an art, not a science,” were words she’d already associated with war strategy, and now she had the knowledge to understand why that was the case.

Turning the page of the hefty tome, she sighed. I wish I’d thought of this earlier, she thought. I’m so far behind. Others my age have mastered strategy years ago. Most people who lead armies in war at least have some basic understanding of how to do war strategy. She shook her head. I was terrified of those veteran leaders before heading out to fight, but at least they spoke up and were trying to do what was best for me and for the men who reported to me.

She was reading a chapter all about understanding an opponent. There were some interesting things she’d picked up from practicing with the sword so much, but for the most part, it had all still been new material to her. She struggled with it. How was she supposed to get in her opponent’s head when she knew nothing about them at all? Though her father was the emperor’s right hand man, she understood nothing about him, and really only saw him as a mad man who had gambled with her life.

What would be the emperor’s greatest weakness? Because of how flat the area around the capitol is, it is not as though they are going to run out of food resources any time soon. She thought.

She sighed. This was already a lot harder than she anticipated. Trying to cram a lifetime’s worth of learning of strategy into a short period, riding on the coattails of being considered capable, had not been her brightest idea.

She pushed the book away from her, and sighed again, putting her head down on the table. If not this, then what? How else could I help Aulbert enough to be taken in as a citizen? How else can I find a way to be with Jaspar?

Jaspar, ah, it had been a week or so since she’d last seen him. Her heart ached with longing. The empire had launched a surprise attack on one of Aulbert’s border towns, and it had not gone well. Jaspar had been working with the prince to come up with a strategy to take back the ground the empire had gained from catching Aulbert unprepared.

And I, Maude thought, have still been utterly worthless. I’m nothing but a drain on resources who’s regarded as a heroine.

She sighed heavily again, sat up and pulled the book close to her. I need to find a way to be worthwhile, she thought. I need to find a way for us to be together!

She started reading again, only to feel her eyes glazing over once more after only a few minutes.

Maybe father was right, she thought. Maybe I am better suited to be a fighter and nothing more. I should have asked Jaspar what he thought about my capabilities. At least he would be able to have a better assessment of my skills.

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Maude heard the door to the library open softly, and felt her heart lighten. Could it be that Jaspar had finally gotten a free moment to see her?

But Helena rounded the corner with a small smile on her face. “My lady!” she exclaimed. “I never thought this would happen during your stay, but it seems you have received some mail!”

“I received mail?” Maude asked, feeling her eyebrows raise high. “Who could have possibly sent me mail?”

Helena paused and looked very closely at the envelope in her hands. “It says here…Silas…Lupton?” she asked.

“Silas?” Maude replied, her eyes widening. How did he find me? She wondered. The whole empire believes that I’m dead.

Helena continued her path across the room, and delicately put the envelope into Maude’s hands upon her arrival. Clear as day was “Maude Holloway,” scribbled across the envelope in Silas’s boyish print.

“Unbelievable,” Maude murmured, turning the envelope around to open it. She had thought of Silas only a few times since her life had begun at the Rosenberg manor, but she assumed that he would have been grieving her death while continuing to fight in the war, not tracking her down and sending her a letter while she was a prisoner of war in an enemy country. What the hell is his deal? She wondered.

She carefully opened the envelope, while Helena waited next to her with what seemed like baited breath. Maude opened a folded piece of parchment from the envelope, finding letters written across the page. The letters appeared to be connected as words would be, but each one was illegible gibberish.

“It’s a cipher,” she breathed, feeling her heart pick up a little. Suddenly, all the studying she’d done over the past few weeks no longer seemed as though it was for nothing. She had only just learned about cipher writing a few days earlier, and without her reading books on strategy, she would have never even known where to start with the letter.

“A cipher?” Helena asked, as Maude shoved a bookmark into the location of the book she’d just been reading.

“It’s a way to code transmissions during times of war or unrest, or things that the sender only wants the receiver to know,” she said. She flipped back a few chapters in the book, and quickly located the page with the most commonly used ciphers.

“Fascinating,” Helena replied, bending over the book with Maude.

There were two words at the top of the page. Maude suspected that one of them may be her name, as it also had five letters. She realized that this would likely be the word that would inform her if she had solved the cipher or not. “Oplcpde Xlfop,” the words said, written in his familiar letters.

“Would you be willing to bring me some parchment and a quill?” Maude asked Helena.

“Of course, my lady,” she replied. She walked to the other side of the library, and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. Maude took them from her, and started attempting to use the common ciphers to decipher the letter.

It was to no avail. She scribbled and scribbled, and came up with “Kysbc” and “Ymgpq,” but not her name.

She sighed, looking over the letter again for clues. At the very bottom, written in plain common, it said, “P.S., The youngest sword saint ever,” which really didn’t mean much to her. She’d also even tried to use her name as the cipher, since she was the youngest sword saint ever, but even that cipher failed, producing something very different from her name.

“Did you figure it out?” Helena asked.

Maude shook her head. “I can only assume that this letter is far too important to be read by just anyone,” she grumbled.

“What about asking his grace for help?” Helena suggested.

Maude paused, looking down at the letter in front of her. She wasn’t quite sure what it could possibly contain. She and Silas had once been informed that they were to be married to one another, but they had never even kissed or exchanged sweet nothings. There was a pretty good likelihood that it wouldn’t contain anything like that, meaning Jaspar was unlikely to get too upset by the contents.

Then, there was the fact that Silas had managed to track her down and find out that she was still alive. Plus, now that she had truly betrayed her country and decided that she was going to aid and abet the Aulbertian kingdom to the best of her abilities, if there was any information about the war in the contents of the letter, she was only going to tell Jaspar about it anyway. I trust him, she thought. And he’ll probably be able to make more headway than I have.

“That’s a great idea,” Maude replied. “Will you ask him to let me know when he has a free moment as I am in need of his help?”

“Of course,” Helena replied, a smile crossing her face. “I will let him know right away, my lady,” she said, turning to leave the library.”

And now, Maude thought, I wait.