Kordas burst out laughing. It was strained laughter, the kind that whistles through clenched teeth, and he shuddered. “Yes—of course—my loyal service!” These months, of thinking as fast as he could while staying in character—well, there was nothing funnier in Kordas’s mind at that moment than hearing he should be spared for his loyalty to the Empire. He knew he sounded off-kilter for laughing so uncontrollably, but he could not stop himself. After a hard swallow, he finally replied to Merrin, “So all that time you were in Valdemar was your—what? your vacation?—and you kept it going by making me think you were the worst spy ever?”

Merrin chuckled a little himself, and replied, “Worst spy ever. It worked, didn’t it?”

Kordas slapped his hands to his face. “I thought you were in Valdemar as a punishment sometimes. You were just so—so bad at being a spy.”

Merrin shrugged, hands apart. “It was the cover I invented, so I could stay longer.”

“Which makes you the best spy ever.” Kordas looked to Star, who just nodded. “And it’s all true. We set you up so many times, and you had us set up the whole time. Oh, gods great and small, I worked so hard to make you view us as harmless, and every time I read your dispatches, I was convinced we were fooling you.”

Merrin frowned a bit. “You could read them somehow? No, wait, that makes sense, when I think about it, but I never caught it at the time. All right. So not the best spy ever. What in all the Hells were you keeping hidden from me?”

“Long story. Long story.” His fatigue was pulling back into a tight-cramped bunching of his back muscles, but otherwise, he felt a rush of blood as his heart rate increased. Some decisions were coming together about the situation. So when my people are all gone, Merrin will be Duke of an empty Duchy, and the Emperor will murder him for allowing it to happen. He’d get thrown into the Fights, killed on the spot, or much worse. I only encountered a few of the torments the Emperor had. I never saw the interrogation chambers, the dungeons, and Gods only know what else the Emperor delights in. Damn it! If I’d known Merrin wasn’t an enemy, we could have used the help of a spy so many times, for the Plan. What can be done to keep backlash off of Merrin and Valdemar?

You know what. You’ve tried not to think of it, wondering if you had the nerve, or the skill, or what you’d have to face to accomplish it—but there is an opportunity now. There is a moment to act. The moment is soon. Think fast, think well. The Dolls. That has to be how.