“But he won’t tell me what it is!” Abi countered in despair.

“Depend on it, it’s clever,” Kat soothed. “And that when that ax falls, it’s not going to fall on you.”

Abi just groaned.

“Abi! This is your father! The King’s Spy! If you don’t think he can outthink one fat dullard and his scummy friends, then shame on you!” Kat scolded. “This isn’t a lot of Karsite agents or Sleepgiver assassins! This is a former schoolboy and whatever support he can dredge up from his father’s flunkies.”

Abi blinked at her, then realized she was absolutely right. If Mags couldn’t be more clever than Dudley Remp and his (probably unwilling) helpers, he might as well give up the position of King’s Spy and take up riding Circuit in the Field, because he would have lost whatever edge and cleverness he had.

“I keep forgetting it’s not just a random Herald,” she said sheepishly. “It’s Papa, and you’re right. And even if he himself hadn’t thought of anything, he could have consulted Lord Jorthun and Grandfather.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kat crowed. “Now . . . help quiz me on this section. I’ve got a test tomorrow.”

•   •   •

Kat was not the only one with tests. Once the Fair was over and gone and the instructors had given their restless pupils a chance to settle back to work, it was time for a veritable barrage of tests. So far as Abi was concerned, the most important was the Combined Math test, which took an entire afternoon and covered every single one of her classes that involved any kind of math. There were fiendishly complicated problems that involved geometry, trigonometry, and algebra, in combinations she’d never seen before, besides many of the usual single problems.

It was a grueling session, and nothing less than an ordeal for many of the Blues; one boy actually broke down in the middle of it and needed to be taken out of the room. It was hard, hard work for Abi and she had a terrible headache when it was all over. She was so tired she was actually sick, and went straight home and laid down in her dark room, only coming out for supper—and then only to drink a lot of tea and eat some fruit. This was literally the hardest she had ever worked before in her life, and it was an entirely new experience. She was used to learning quickly and getting things right easily, and on the one hand, if this hadn’t been something her entire progress in the Artificers was being graded on, she’d have enjoyed the challenge. But it was, and she thoroughly sympathized with the boy who hadn’t been able to bear the pressure. More than once, she’d wished her Gift hadn’t put her in this position and envied Perry.