We head off to bed like normal. And although this new discovery swims through my brain, I find myself more tired than I expected. I fall asleep quite quickly once I pull my covers up around me.

However, my dreamless sleep is disturbed in the middle of the night by a commotion outside the door. Vague shouting reaches my ears and I blink myself awake. “Whaa…?” I mumble, cracking my eyelids, the glowing orange coals the only light illuminating the room.

“Izz there some–” Briareth yawns loudly “--body there?” The voices sound clearer as I wake up more and I quickly clamber out of bed and walk across the smooth cold floor towards the door, trying to hear what they’re saying.

“We know he’s in there! You can’t fool us! Why else would a member of his guard be on duty here in the middle of the night?!” A familiar male voice shouts.

“We need to speak with him immediately!” A female voice adds on. “You can at least tell him we’re here right?!”

“Oh come on!” the male voice butts back in as the guard probably denies them anything.

“Beni, Luttie,” I greet them, opening the door, “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” The guard looks like he wants to protest at my appearance, but gets cut off before he can.

“Wait, this is where you’re staying?!” Beni says, looking shocked, “No wonder we couldn’t find you!”

“I told you he looked familiar, he’s Balderk Ungart, you know from the trial months ago! If he’s here and the guards are here–” Lutti adds on, putting the pieces together.

“No way, are the elves bunking here too?” Beni says, just a second slower than her. He tries to peer into the room behind me.

“Seriously,” I say, trying to pull them back to the topic at hand. “What are you doing here? Is there an emergency?”

“Umm… Kinda, sorta, well...” Beni glances at Lutti and her tapping foot before deciding “--definitely. This would definitely count as an emergency. You all need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Wait, why? What’s happened?”

“You can tell us you know!” Briareth chimes in from behind me, much more awake now that something’s going on.

“Since we know that they’re in there, can we go in now?” Beni asks the guard, who just sighs, and gestures for him to go ahead. I open the door a little wider and the guard joins Beni and Lutti coming in. Faladel has just rolled out of bed, and blinks sleepily at us. “What exactly–” He says, looking towards the two new dwarves, “Is going on?”

“An emergency,” Briareth explains simply.

Faladel sighs, “Exactly what we don’t need.”

“Don’t bother stoking the fire!” Lutti scolds the guard, who had just picked up a poker. “We need to get out of here! Hide any evidence that you all have been living here!”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“Did someone find us out?” Faladel says, catching on quicker. “Are they looking for proof?”

“Just proof that the Prince is hiding something. They don’t necessarily know you’re here. Even we didn’t know you’re here. All we heard is that they’re raiding here soon! They could be here in less than an hour! We need to get you out and wipe all traces of you living here!” Beni explains.

“Are there any important documents Prince Yaluda left with you all? Anything that could compromise things?” Lutti cuts in urgently.

“No– Nothing!” I say, remembering how he took the blackmail papers with him.

“Wait!” Faladel exclaims. “The list of ingredients! Briareth, where did you put it?!” Briareth hurries to his bed and scrambles around in it for a few seconds, “Got it!” He calls back, and rushes it over. Lutti snatches it from his fingers and rips it to shreds “Woah, lady! We needed that!” Briareth exclaims.

“Make another one.” She says coldly, scattering the scraps among the embers of the fire. Then, turning to the guard she asks “How did you get the beds in? We need to take them apart and get them out of here.”

“I don’t take orders from you.” The guard says cautiously.

“Now isn’t the time for that!” Beni snaps. “We’re on his Highness's side! They’re going to break down that door in under an hour, come storming in here, and look for anything compromising. Three beds and a room that has clearly been lived in, when three prisoners escaped a couple months ago, is pretty compromising!”

The guard glances between Lutti and Beni, and Faladel, Briareth, and I. Eventually he admits. “The beds can fold and be hidden behind one of the bookcases. I’ll show you how. The breakfast table will have to be broken apart though, we carried it in from a different part of the castle, and we wouldn’t have time to move it if you’re telling the truth.”

“Is there a place we can store the broken parts?” Lutti asks instantly.

“Yes, you can store them in the same hollow as the beds. There should be room.” The guard advises. With all of us working together, in five minutes the room looks as good as new.

“Excellent!” Lutti claims, “Now let's get going! Did His Highness or Blix ever mention another safe room to you guys? Anywhere you could hide if this spot got compromised?!”

“No, nothing.” Faladel says, “Where should we go?” Beni and Lutti exchange glances, communicating with just their eyes.

“We know a safe place.” Beni says, “It’s a bit run down, but nobody will find you there. Come on!”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Wait!” I break in, seeing them all turn to go.

“What?!” Snaps Lutti. “We don’t have time–!”

“What if they go after Yaluda himself?” I ask, “Nobody’s warned him! If they go after him, he won’t have any time to prepare his room, much less escape if they decided to capture him!”

“Oh buttery bloomers, you’re right!” Beni exclaims.

“Beni! Language!” Lutti scolds. “Can you go warn him Balderk? It’s late at night, if you keep your face covered, you won’t even have to dis–”

“I don’t know the way.” I interrupt, feeling almost physical pain at the admission. I can’t help Yaluda. He’s helped me so much and yet–

“Sir guard?” Lutti asks hopefully, but the guard shakes his head.

“I still don’t trust you. You’re taking the elves away someplace. What if you’re actually the only raiders there are, tricking us and going to bring the elves to the king's men? I’ve sworn to serve the Prince, and the last thing he told me was to not let the elves, especially that one” he points to Briareth “leave my sight.”

“Ughhh!” Beni exclaims. “We need to get going!” Lutti leans towards him and they whisper together in an undertone for a few seconds. Eventually he nods.

“I’ll take you.” Lutti says, turning towards me. “I know the way to his room, so I’ll take you. We can explain it to him together when we get there, and you can add credence to my story.”

Without further ado, we spit up. Lutti practically drags me up three more flights of stairs and then down a long hallway and to a door on the left.

“Who exactly–” I gasp out, between pants “is raiding the study? Why? How did they catch on?”

“It’s the church. We think someone else besides Young Miss Tirade saw you and the prince together, and now they’ve gone and blabbed. The High Priest probably wanted to catch you together, but he would settle for anything that could turn suspicion on the Prince. From what Beni and I overheard earlier tonight, it sounds like he’s furious after being blackmailed by His Highness. He can’t risk Prince Yaluda escaping unscathed after hearing about the incriminating info you all have. He probably thinks he needs some leverage as well, or he just wants to strike first. Honestly, I think all that Blumwort he sells has addled his brains...” Lutti spews out explanations as she drags me along behind her through twisting tunnels. We finally halt panting, right next to a closed door.

“Blix, you should be glad you’ll never know the curse of binders.” I hear Yaluda’s voice complain. “You can’t do any sort of exer–” Lutti doesn’t even bother to knock, she barges right in.

“Prince Yaluda, sorry to use the secret passage like this but–” We both freeze, shocked. “What the–?!.” Lutti gasps.

Yaluda is standing in front of the mirror in his bedroom, wearing a loose tunic that does little to disguise the obvious bumps on his chest that I would swear were never there before. He’s holding his beard in his left hand, and his chin and cheeks are smoother than if he’d just shaved. Shock, and then a brief second of fear plays out on his face.

“You can’t be Yaluda.” Lutti says, stating the obvious, and breaking me out of my shock. Slowly reality begins to sink in. A dagger twists and rips its way through my innards as I realize that it was a lie. He– She? They? It? It wasn't Yaluda at all. It wasn't my friend, my confidant, my crush. It was someone else entirely. Someone who lied, as easily as it breathed. Someone who'd fooled me with the hopes, the dreams, the personality taken from a someone who was, in all likelihood, a dead man. My heart broke slightly as I realized that all my trust had never been and would probably never be reciprocated by this creature. The person I believed to have been friends with was a lie. It was living a lie, and I had just been another facet of that lie.

"Why?" I gasp, then "who even are you?" I see a face twist in pain, mirroring my own. Anger clouds my vision though, my self-defense blocking it out.

“Wait!" The person I had always called Yaluda says, "Please–" it's hand reaches out to me. And I wait, freezing the pain and anger. I want–I need an explanation. 5 seconds pass, then 10, but it's mouth just moves emptily. It can't say anything. There's nothing to say because everything we shared was a lie. And it knows nothing can defend that. It's hand falls, and I leave. Behind me, I vaguely hear Lutti running to catch up. She says something, but I can’t hear her. She takes my hand and I follow her, empty. I have no will left to protest. My brain has effectively shut down. I’m a shell. A single tear falls into my beard, and it stays there.

----------------------------------------

BLIX

"What have I done?!" A horrorstruck Istere wails as she collapses into my arms just a few seconds after the door closes.

"That's why I told you not to get close to him. I knew this might happen." I grumble, lifting the Crown Prince off my shoulder and walking her over to the couch.

"I can't help it, he was so sincere, so beautiful, I just wanted–"

"You wanted to be close to a person without being honest with them. It's not healthy. And when the truth came out he reacted badly. You can't blame him."

"You were the one who forbid me to be honest!" She accuses, sobbing even louder.

I sigh. This whole fiasco is a mess, and although I know I shouldn't blame the Prince for taking it out on me– her brother would have been way worse about it– it still makes it no easier to bear with. "Because I'm trying to protect you, Your Highness." I remind her, struggling to stay calm myself, taking a seat next to her to give her my handkerchief. This next bit is more than a little difficult for me to say. "And I admit I was probably wrong there. My reasons were good. Our reasons were good. After all, if anyone had suspected that you survived instead of your brother, the word would reach the king eventually and he'd have no problems exposing you and then eliminating you. If the noble houses saw you as female, they'd see you as weaker. They'd up their attacks, be more likely to back the King, and never support you in any coup." My harsh words, statements of fact though they might be, only cause her to cry harder. "It will be okay." I say more gently. "We can still try to salvage this. We didn't know the elves were okay with working with females before. Although they may have a few more qualms now than earlier because we were caught in a lie, I'm sure they'll be able to see the reasons behind it. And as for your relationship with Balderk Ungart, although he's definitely hurt by your actions– by you following my advice– he gave you a chance to try to explain before he left–."

"But I froze!!" Istere interrupts me with a wail.

"Doesn't matter." I press. "It means he's willing to listen. And probably still willing to work with us. Even if you two don't ever mend your relationship–" Istere starts crying harder and I realize I'm definitely not doing a great job, “–which I think is very unlikely " I hurriedly add on, trying to mend things a little, "he won't betray us just because of hurt feelings."

Istere cries for a while longer, and I just hold her waiting for the waterworks to dry up and give me back the powerful, determined young lady who won't let anything get in her way.

Eventually she sniffles and asks. "You really think we have a chance of making up?"

I swear, those big golden eyes, so like her brothers’, won't stop putting me on the spot. I can't lie to her. "It all depends on how betrayed he feels. Your relationship will never be quite the same, obviously. But if he can stand to wait a few seconds for you to try to explain yourself, it's almost certain he doesn't hate you and there's a chance there for healing. You just have to give him an explanation, a sincere apology, and then time to decide for himself what he wants and if he can trust you a second time. After that it's up to him if you can become friends again."

"That doesn't sound very certain." Istere says sadly.

"Well, it's not." I say bluntly, tired of all the drama. "You'll have to trust him to want this relationship fixed as much as you do. But first of all, we have to figure out what exactly caused them to bust in here through the secret passageway. Somethings happening out there, and it’s obviously not good."

Istere stares at me, her normal self finally resurfacing.

“Oh my stars! You’re right!”