Ajay had to step back as the passenger door nearly closed itself. Then Bridget reached over and closed it the rest of the way.

In the streetlight, he saw a tear shining silver on her cheek.

BOB

Who’s the Fool Now?

The room that was his prison cell had stopped existing for Bob. As he mechanically marched forward to nowhere, he no longer heard the treadmill’s low whine, the slap of his feet, or the clack of the typewriter keys.

He no longer heard Derrick, out in the hall arguing on the phone with his mom.

Instead, he was with Jade Tarnno and Ken Pipem in the small bedchamber they’d been given as part of the king’s entourage. They were accompanying King Orwen as he visited one of his dukes.

Bob knew he was taking a risk, writing pages to the real Eyes of the Forest before the boy went to bed, but he couldn’t silence the story any longer. And maybe these pages could serve for both books, although he would have to retype them so he had two sets.

Bob was no longer trying to write badly. He was no longer trying at all. He hadn’t felt like this for years, not since he wrote what became King of Swords. As if a narrator was whispering words in his ear as the scene played out in his mind’s eye. All Bob had to do was put those words on paper.

Jade applied scent behind her ears and on her wrists. Lifting the hem of her skirt, she dabbed more perfume behind her knees.

Ken’s voice was thin as parchment. “What are you doing?” Sitting on the edge of the bed, he fiddled with his black satin glove, trying to bend the horsehair-stuffed fingers into a more natural shape.

She straightened up and shook back her waterfall of hair. “Preparing for my audience with the king.” She pinned a scrap of lace on top of her head. It was only a nod to propriety, as it did nothing to hide her hair.

“You appear to think the audience is going to occur in Orwen’s bedchamber.” Ken pushed back his jester’s hood with its attached ears, leaving his mask in place. He even slept in it now. The story they put about was that Ken had been badly scarred by the pox. If the king knew what the mask hid, he would order him banished or even executed.

“It might.” Jade’s dark eyes were amused. “And would that be so bad?”

Ken imagined twisting the necklace around her throat. Twisting it until her face turned purple and she could no longer say such terrible things.

Instead, he took off his mask.

When the door behind him slammed, Bob jumped. He raised his head, blinking as the room came into focus.

“Everything’s falling apart!” Derrick said. His face was flushed, his hands fisted. “And it’s your fault.”