Marna finished the last touches to Quilla’s hair and turned her to face the mirror. She had accentuated its natural wave to add a curl at the ends.

“Thank you, Marna. It looks beautiful.” Quilla had refused Marna’s offer to tie ribbons into her hair. She would be glad when that fashion passed.

“If I may be so bold, my Lady, I think you should grow it out. You have very lovely hair and there would be so much more you could do with it long.”

Quilla forced a smile. “I’ll think about it.” She wasn’t in the mood for this kind of banter.

“May I ask a personal question, my Lady?”

Quilla resisted groaning. “If you wish.”

“What’s it like being an Eloorin who gets tended on like this?”

Quilla groaned.

Marna backed away a couple steps. “My apologies, my Lady.”

“Go see if my friends are here yet, please.”

Marna curtsied and hurried off.

Weird. It felt weird. She’d enjoyed it while Garet had been around. Now…

She placed a hand to her chest. No locket. Without it there, she might as well just walk around bare-chested as she felt bare-chested anyway. It hadn’t been in her bed or anywhere in the sitting room. Not on the balcony, nor anywhere in all of Garet’s apartments. She’d searched everywhere.

There was only one explanation: Dyle took it. Had it been out of jealousy to deprive her of her last remaining reminder of Garet? Or had he taken it just so he had a connection to her? All she knew was, she wanted it back, and she would tear this Palace apart until she found him and took it back.

Marna returned. “You friends are here, my Lady.”

It was about bloody time! Just how long could it have taken Zandrue to get Rudiger? “I’ll be out in a moment. Thank you, Marna.”

Marna curtsied and left the room again.

Quilla stood there. They had made her wait, so she’d make them wait a little too.

Or maybe not. That was petty of her. Zandrue probably had a good reason for taking so long.

She took a final moment to adjust her dress in the mirror—a rich purple gown appropriate for mourning—then headed into the sitting room.

Zandrue and Rudiger sat side-by-side on the couch, holding hands. Quilla shivered. Seeing them like that always reminded her of times with Garet.

“You took your time.” She walked over to the wine table. Marna had seen to it that the pitchers were full of the sweet wine. Quilla had told Marna to wait outside while she talked to Zandrue, so she had to pour a goblet herself.

“Sorry about that,” Zandrue said. “I got summoned by Ardon along the way. It was a surprisingly short meeting, but it did hold me up a bit.” She nudged Rudiger with her elbow. “Then I had to wait for this sleepyhead to get dressed.”

Quilla raised the goblet and drank half of it in one gulp. She really needed to lay off the wine soon. “It’s all right. It gave me time to search and change.”

“Did you find the locket?”

She shook her head. “It’s gone. He must have taken it.” She drank some more wine, though forced herself not to drink it all. “Have you told Rudiger what happened?”

Zandrue nodded.

“Sounds pretty frightening,” Rudiger said. “He just walked in?”

“As best I remember. I was really drunk at the time. Someone else might have let him in, but I’m pretty sure he was by himself while he was here.”

“Maybe you should call your handmaid in,” Zandrue said. “I know you said you sent her for wine, but maybe she got back in time to see something.”

Quilla nodded. She’d been so agitated, she hadn’t even thought of asking Marna. There was a bell somewhere to summon her. Where had it gone? A quick look spotted the bell on the table in front of Zandrue and Rudiger. Guessing Quilla’s intentions, Zandrue picked it up and rang it.

Marna entered the room and curtsied as Quilla crossed to the chaise longue and sat down.

“Marna, last night, I asked you to fetch some wine. What happened after that?”

“I did as you asked. I went to the kitchens and got the wine. When I returned, you were asleep in your bed. I tried to wake you, but you wouldn’t wake. You had had a lot to drink, so I let you be. I left the wine in the salon here.”

“Why did it take so long?” Zandrue asked. “I’m not yet an expert in the Palace layout, but the kitchens aren’t far from here, are they?”

“There was a brief delay. My Lady had requested a specific wine favoured by Princess Sinitïa. The Palace doesn’t stock as much of that as other wines, so it had to be fetched from the cellars. But it wasn’t that long a delay.” Marna looked to Quilla. “You aren’t unhappy with me, are you, my Lady?”

Quilla held back the anger she was feeling. “No, of course not.” That delay had allowed Dyle more time, but that wasn’t really Marna’s fault. Quilla reminded herself she needed to save her anger for those who actually deserved it.

Zandrue leaned forward. “But there was enough time for Quilla to have another guest come and go before you got back. Seems a bit more than a short delay.”

Marna looked blankly at Zandrue. “There was another guest?” She looked to Quilla. “After his Grace, my Lady?”

Quilla nodded. “Yes, a...man visited me. He was someone I used to know. You didn’t let him in?”

Marna shook her head. “No, my Lady. I would have announced him if I had.”

“Then how did he get in?” Quilla asked. “Did you lock the doors behind you when you left?”

“Of course, my Lady.” Marna shifted back and forth on her feet.

“And were they locked when you got back?” Zandrue asked.

“Yes, I believe so.”

“You believe so?” Zandrue said.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Marna shifted her weight again. “I’m fairly certain, but I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time. I’m pretty sure they were still locked.”

“Do you actually remember unlocking them?” Zandrue pressed.

Marna shifted again, and looked down at the floor. “No, not as such, my Lady. But I do those things out of habit. I don’t always remember doing them, but I know I do them. If they had been unlocked already, I would have noticed and that would be something I remembered.”

Zandrue nodded. “I understand, and I’m not accusing you of any wrongdoings.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“How long did that delay in the kitchen take?” Zandrue continued.

“A few minutes at most.”

“And how long total would you estimate it took from Quilla sending you for the wine until you returned with it?”

“Maybe twenty minutes?”

Zandrue sat back. “Okay, let’s say that’s an under-estimate and it actually took closer to thirty minutes. That means, in the space of half an hour, Dyle arrived, did whatever he came here for, and left again without being seen by Marna coming back.” She put an arm around Rudiger. “That’s loads of time. For all we know, Quilla kicked him out before he’d even said two words.”

“Pretty good timing, though,” Rudiger said. “Just happened to come here in that thirty-minute window when Marna was away? Pretty convenient.”

Zandrue shrugged. “Not really. He could have been watching these apartments. It wouldn’t be hard to find out Quilla only has a single handmaid and no guards assigned to her. He would know Marna would be sent on errands from time to time, so he just needed to wait long enough. He saw Marna leave and knew that was his chance. He would also know not to stay long.”

Rudiger frowned. “But he would have had to watch the apartments for a while. Any chance Ardon saw him if he was standing around watching?”

Zandrue shook her head. “He didn’t. That was why my meeting with him was so short. I told him about Dyle’s visit—hope you don’t mind, Quilla, but we need his help—and he was surprised. No, not surprised. Shocked.”

Quilla sat forward. “But nothing surprises Ardon.” Garet had often talked about wanting to devise a way to take the Patriarch by surprise.

“Exactly,” Zandrue said. “Even if Dyle was disguised, if Ardon had noticed someone standing around Quilla’s apartments, he wouldn’t have been surprised at anyone, even Dyle, paying her a visit.”

“What if he was disguised as a servant?” Rudiger asked. “There are servants standing around everywhere. He wouldn’t have looked out of place.”

Zandrue looked at him, smiled, and patted his cheek. “To you maybe. Do you really think Ardon doesn’t know who every single servant in this place is?”

Rudiger frowned and looked away from her. “Good point.”

Zandrue used the hand on his cheek to turn his face back to her, and she kissed him. She smiled broadly. “I always have good points.”

Quilla looked away from them as that empty feeling in her chest doubled in size for a moment.

“So how’d he avoid being seen?” Rudiger asked.

“I don’t know,” Zandrue said.

“Pardon me, my Ladies, my Lord,” Marna said. “But what does this Dyle person look like? Perhaps I saw him in the halls.”

“Did you see anyone you didn’t recognise?” Zandrue asked.

Marna shrugged. “No, but there were some guards that I’ve seen before but don’t know well.”

“Short with dirty blonde hair,” Quilla said. “Long scare on his cheek.”

Marna shook her head. “No, sorry. I’d remember a scar like that.”

Zandrue let go of Rudiger with a sigh, leaned forward, and rested her head in her hands. “So either Dyle just happened to come here at exactly the right time, or he was expertly disguised as a servant or guard that Ardon would expect to be there, yet still be completely recognisable to Quilla. Or he was invisible.”

“Could that be the case?” Quilla asked. Felitïa could make herself invisible. Or hadn’t Meleng said that it was more that she tricked people’s minds into thinking she wasn’t there?

Zandrue leaned back in the couch again and threw her head back to stare at the ceiling. “It’s possible, I suppose. Is he a wizard?”

Quilla shook her head. “Not when we were together. Of course, he kept a lot of things from me, so who knows?”

“Anything could have happened in the years since you last saw him,” Zandrue said. “Besides, there’s probably a different explanation than he was invisible.”

Quilla sighed. “This is getting us nowhere.” She downed the rest of her wine and stood up. Getting drunk had been the stupidest thing she’d done in a long time, and she was already partway to doing it again. And it wasn’t even midday. She pushed past Marna and started to pace. “We need to find him. Find where he’s hiding and...I don’t know, except get my locket. Put a stop to whatever he’s planning, I suppose.”

“We should start doing some investigating then,” Zandrue said.

“Do you need me for anything else, my Ladies?” Marna asked.

“No, I think we’re fine, Marna,” Quilla said. “Thank you.”

“Then I will wait in the other room as you asked.” Marna curtsied and headed towards the door to the handmaids’ chamber.

“One thing, Marna,” Zandrue said and the girl paused, “when you next see Ardon, could you let him know I’m eager to continue our conversation from earlier?”

Marna didn’t look at Zandrue as she answered, “Of course, my Lady. If I happen to see him.”

She curtsied and left the sitting room.

Quilla stopped pacing. “She’s working for Ardon, isn’t she?”

“Of course she is.” Zandrue went over to the wine table and poured herself some wine. “But I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I think we can trust Ardon—to an extent—and better to have Marna spying for him than the Queen or just about anyone else.”

Or Dyle. Quilla shivered. She sat back down and buried her head in her hands. Gods, she didn’t need this right now. She just wanted to deal with Garet’s funeral, give him the recognition he deserved from this stupid family, then move on. She didn’t need Dyle complicating things. Part of her wanted to ignore him. Pretend he wasn’t there and get on with everything else. But that wouldn’t work. He would show up again, and she needed to be better prepared next time. Besides, she wanted her locket back.

Zandrue sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure things out.”

Quilla nodded slowly. “What do you suggest we do?”

“For a start, we go easier on the wine. That includes me.” Zandrue looked at her goblet and sighed. Then she took Quilla’s goblet, walked back over to the wine table, emptied her own goblet into the pitcher, and placed both empty goblets on the table. “Next, we ingratiate ourselves with a family that hates us, and with their servants, so we can learn who among them let Dyle into the Palace.”

Quilla groaned.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fun!”

Quilla groaned some more.

“Rudiger, start making nice with the princes. See if you can get yourself in with Malef and Pastrin and their friends. Or Thilin.”

Rudiger shifted on the couch. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“Use your initiative. You got by for a month in the Ninifin palace.”

“Yeah, but I was a servant there. Here—”

“Here, you’ll be moving up in the world. It’ll be a piece of cake in comparison.”

Rudiger frowned. “Somehow, I doubt that. I’ll give it a try, I guess.”

“That’s the spirit.” Zandrue patted him on the cheek.

Quilla resisted the urge to get more wine. When Zandrue looked at her, she said, “There’s not much I can do. They hate me here. They’re not going to accept me into their circles all of a sudden, no matter how nice I play.”

Zandrue nodded. “I know. That’s why you’re going to make nice with the serving staff. Get to know some of them. Start with Marna if you like.”

The serving staff didn’t like her much either. She wanted to find Dyle though, and she wouldn’t feel right if Zandrue and Rudiger did all the work. “Okay. What are you going to do?”

“Someone needs to make certain the Queen doesn’t banish us, or worse, have us hanged.”

“Somehow I doubt even you can get on the Queen’s good side, Zandrue,” Quilla said.

Zandrue smirked. “That’s why I’m not going to start with her. I’m going to start by making nice with her favourite daughter.”