“I don’t know. I didn’t try.” Kerrigan bit her lip. “Should I try?”

“No,” he said at once. “Not under her tutelage at least.”

“I want to help the people here,” she said. “The people who are trapped.”

“But look at what you would be unleashing,” Fordham said. “This court is… it’s not fit for the outside world.”

“I know.”

He shook his head. “Do you think this has something to do with your spirit magic?”

“It must, but I didn’t tell Wynter that. I’m not stupid.”

“Good.” Fordham furrowed his brow. “She told you all this for a reason. I’m going to have to dig into it. I’ve heard whispers since I got here, but I was worried too much about us and not what she was up to.”

“Whispers?”

“That she’s recruiting from all three families.”

“For what?”

He jerked the white shirt off and went back in for black silk. “I’m going to have to find out, aren’t I?”

“I’m going with you.”

Fordham considered it for a moment. She was sure that he was going to object. He’d done nothing but leave her alone in this terrible room.

“You’d follow me anyway, wouldn’t you?”

She smirked. “At least you’re getting it.”

“Get dressed. I have an idea.”

“You sound like me,” she teased.

He assessed her. Some of the coolness bleeding out of him. “You’re rubbing off on me.”

An hour later, Kerrigan was finally let out of the room for more than getting dressed and a supervised ride. Fordham smiled at courtiers milling about the court hallways. He seemed to know everyone and wanted to be seen by everyone. She thought it was mad to be so visible, but he’d argued it was better cover to have everyone talking about them. Especially since his father hadn’t seemed keen on changing his mind about Kerrigan.

After the third promenade of the court’s halls, Fordham finally said, “That’s enough.”

“Thank the gods. How was I ever going to be a princess?”

He glanced down at her and then away quickly. “I thought you did well.”

“I know how to behave,” she said, nudging him. “I just don’t enjoy it.”

“Neither do I.”

“Then, let’s go make trouble.”

“You are a devious little thing, aren’t you?”

Kerrigan smiled at him, enjoying the camaraderie. This was easier than what they’d been dealing with since that fateful kiss… since coming here.

Fordham turned a final corner, passing through a large stone archway and then down a narrow corridor. “Here,” he said, pushing a button. The wall in front of them disappeared.

Kerrigan gasped. “Hidden tunnels?”

“It’s a spy network,” he said, ushering her inside. “They were used before the Great War to spy on diplomats and foreigners who came into our mountain.”

“Also to spy on your own people, I’m sure.”