“Eew!”

Both Em and Tracy took a few hurried steps back.

“Calm down. Give me that cheese.”

Flint calmly fed the little slime ball and to Em’s amazement, the ‘sliminess’ of it vanished. He smiled at Em’s open mouth.

“Slime ooze is to attract prey,” he explained to Em. “They only get like that when they’re hungry enough to eat something that moves.”

“What do you mean?”

“Slimes generally eat decomposing plants, carrion, pig slop, that sort of thing. But sometimes they can’t find any of that, so they have to attract live prey.”

Em narrowed her eyes at the blob.

“Was he trying to eat me?”

Flint laughed, surprising everyone.

“You’re too big. More likely it was using you as a ride.” He patted the blob then held it out to her. “Take it.”

Em scowled. “I don’t want to. He ate my shoes.”

“Leather. Makes sense.” When she still didn’t move to take the blob, Flint lowered himself to one knee. Smiling. “Slimes make good pets if you take care of them.”

“But he’s gross.”

“They’re a rare find. Even out in the wild, you don’t find them much. You may never get another chance.”

Em folded her arms. Considering.

Maybe this was one step closer to getting Loki to help her. Instead of just pranking her.

Reluctantly, she nodded and took the blob from her brother. She flinched, expecting it to ooze again. Instead, it felt more like dense jello and it rolled in her hands with a contented purr.

“Have you told her, yet?”

Em looked up. “Told me what?”

“Not yet, sir.” Tracy shot the blob a wary look as she put a hand on Em’s head. “You’ve been invited to join the master and his Highness for their inspection.”

“Ordered to,” Flint corrected grimly. “Just make a show of being exhausted and whiny about an hour in and I’ll be able to send you off.”

“What are we inspecting?”

“The supply storage and its most recent paperwork. Then a tour of the building and grounds if that doesn’t take too long.”

Em nodded and cradled the slime against her stomach. Like holding a dog the wrong way. Loki didn’t seem to mind, wrapping his tentacles around her arm.

“Ok.”

“Good. Now, get dressed. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

Since boys’ clothes lacked frills, hard to reach buttons and ties, and other pretty but stupid extras, Em had dressed herself for a while now. Which meant Tracy dropped her off at her room with a warning not to get into trouble.

Emmaline never got into trouble, Em thought ruefully as she looked down at the blob

“Why didn't you talk to them?”

“Can you see a world class actor breaking character with such a willing audience?”

Em glared. Then dumped him in her still open closet.

“Hey!”

Hastily Loki put a tentacle out so she couldn't close the door.

“Relax. I'm just getting dressed. And you better not peek!”

“You realize I'm a god, right?”

“So?”

“I can see through walls if I want to.”

“You know what? You can just shut up.”

With a glare, she pushed his tentacle in and closed the door with a snap. Before he could say anything else disturbing. Then she listened to him bang and sing while she changed on high speed.

When she opened the door, she started in surprise.

He'd made a little living room set and was reclining in a little armchair. She covered her face.

Now it was feeling like a real dream. About time.

“Where now?” asked Loki cheerfully.

“To the nearest loony bin?”

“Well, I have been accused of insanity before…”

Loki rode her shoulder down to breakfast.

The dining room was surprisingly empty. Not only were there fewer people, but someone had pushed the two other long tables against the wall.

The room also had a subdued, stifled air to it that made Em wince in the doorway.

As though Flint were watching for her, he raised a hand at the last of the three tables. Making eye contact as he did so.

Warily, Em walked in.

Five people. Flint, the crown prince, Ralph, another of Flint’s aides, and…

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The woman with the red-streaked hair.

Despite being a guest and not actually master of the castle, the crown prince had taken the head of the table. Leaving Flint to sit to his right, Ralph and the other aide to his left, and the woman sitting with a chair in between her and Flint.

Apparently that was where Em was supposed to sit.

“... My people have been preparing the documents for several days now. They should be ready when we get there.”

“Good. Tell me about the situation on the north and west borders?”

While Flint calmly walked through rebel and monster activity, Em sat next to him. And looked up, puzzled, as Tracy put a bowl in front of her. Tracy hadn’t served Em meals even at her parent’s manor.

That wasn’t her job.

But, technically, Tracy was one of the few actual servants in the entire castle.

Maybe that was why?

Em mouthed a thank you and picked up her spoon to eat her müsli, which was sort of like cereal but with whole oats and berries.

“Yum!” she whispered. Someone had put honey in it today! Honey and milk. She was in heaven.

“That looks good.”

Em jumped and realized the woman was watching her. Not paying attention to her empty plate, the woman was leaning on one hand and smiling at Em through her hair. When Em didn’t answer, the woman lowered her voice more and leaned closer.

“You’re Emmaline, yes?”

Em nodded. Not sure if she wanted to speak to this woman.

“You don’t have to be shy, Em. I used to work under your brother.”

Em’s eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

“Yes. He was taciturn, demanding, and highly predictable to all but the enemy. But he was a good boss.” The woman smiled, which made her face go from pretty to glowing. “I was almost afraid his little sister might be a bit like him.”

“A good boss?” Em asked dryly.

The woman laughed. While their whispers hadn’t phased the men, her laughter made Thiago break off mid-sentence with a scowl. His words came out icy.

“Care to share, Madeline?”

“Just exchanging views on müsli ingredients, your highness. Do you prefer honeyed milk or yogurt?”

He narrowed his eyes. “If you can’t keep your manners, then you should refrain from speaking.”

The woman held up her hands in surrender and returned her attention back to her plate. Which had been replaced with her second and final course of the meal.

Meanwhile, Em was staring at her. Open mouthed.

Madeline.

This was Madeline Dulce?!

Wait?!

Did Madeline ever serve anywhere near where Flint had been?

Em wrinkled her forehead and stared down at her food. As far as she remembered, that particular character had studied sorcery until she came of age. Then immediately began working for Thiago as a lovestruck fiancee.

Well… She supposed ‘studied sorcery’ could have a lot of applications.

Now that she’d been dreaming up this world, she’d learned through bits and pieces of Emmaline’s memory that sorcery training really depended on the sorcerer. And what the sorcerer intended to use their talents for.

If Madeline Dulce had served under Flint, then she’d probably been in the middle of her combat studies and needed experience.

It hurt, though. Hearing the name Madeline.

This was Maddie’s namesake.

Another tragic character in the novel. She’d known from the start that Thiago was a rat… and still tried to win his love however she could. Becoming increasingly cynical and still acting at his every beck and call.

After birthing two healthy, legitimate heirs, Thiago kills Madeline himself. Laughing over her corpse and telling the oldest child, “You can’t have any weaknesses.”

Then her two children had killed each other, leaving Emmaline’s child and another concubine’s child to battle it out for the throne after the old Thiago died. The resulting war, explained in three paragraphs, lead to the entire ruin of the Empire.

It was a mess.

A burning homesickness swept through her and Em struggled not to cry. Maddie. She wanted to go home. She wanted Maddie.

And she felt like such a child the way her heart ached and her stomach clenched.

“You should eat.” Em jumped at Madeline’s whisper. “It’s going to be a long day.”

If Em had had a choice, she would have gone back to her room to cry out her misery. Instead, she fed a buttered roll to Loki and tried to ignore the woman next to her.

Someone with Maddie’s name but a completely different face. Completely different.

Before the meal was even over, Madeline pulled out a cigarette and leaned back in her chair. She lit it with a snap of her fingers, took one drag, then caught Em’s eye. With a grimace, she put it out. Leaving a burn mark on the table.

“Sorry, kid. I’m feeling a bit… tense this morning. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s ok.”

To Em’s surprise and bewilderment, Madeline patted her head. Then leaned back in her chair again, eyes closed and chin tilted up.

Since the adults had started eating first, Em had to finish quickly before they got up. Fortunately, rolls and her müsli granola were all she was expected to eat before the others pushed back their chairs.

Then began the countdown to when she could throw a pretend tantrum and be released from boredom.

Reluctantly, she followed the adults to the supply storage. Which turned out to be a huge basement, making Em wonder if this castle had a dungeon somewhere. Maybe in a tower instead of underground?

Down there, it was cool. Not damp, as Em expected, just cool. And on the dark side. What few lights there were were concentrated in the main room and they had to grab magicked torches or real candles if they wanted to go to any of the secondary rooms and corridors.

Em wrapped her arms around herself as Thiago inspected the wine in the farthest back room.

Pear and apple wine.

Em felt silly. She’d never drank before because of her illness (and being under age, though Maddie wouldn’t have objected as much as she should’ve on that count). But Em had assumed any flavor not grape was just that. A flavor.

Not that the wine was made of those fruits.

Here pear and apple were the most popular ingredients, apparently.

And Prince Thiago was snidely sure they were inferior to the delicate grape wines in the capital.

Em huffed.

“I know. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

Em flinched and peeked up at Madeline. The woman had remained unusually close. Arms folded, not commenting on the men’s work. But when she whispered to Em, she leaned over so she was close to Em’s ear.

“What are you supposed to be doing?” Em whispered back to her.

“I’m just decoration. What are you supposed to be doing?”

Em flashed a shared, long suffering smile with the woman.

No matter how pathetic Madeline was in the novel, Em’s dream version of her gave her a little more umph and spice. And Em liked it.

Maybe she’d always been like that. She just hadn’t gotten to see it because Thiago was the protagonist. And he saw Madeline as pathetic, so the reader did, too.

“Madeline!”

They both jumped. Feeling like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar as they both whipped toward a scowling Thiago.

“What do you think of this? Isn’t it a waste of time to be making these sub-par wines when they should be focusing on, say, building projects?”

“Of course,” Madeline purred. “Whatever you say, my dear.”

He relaxed at the visible acknowledgement of his superior hold on Madeline’s attention. Then turned back to what he’d been doing.

Criticising everything Flint had done so far.

Madeline’s smile turned sour. The woman didn’t try to speak to Em again before Em could finally free herself from the situation.

As Flint hinted before, all it took was a little bit of whining.