Emery looked at her, stunned. His eyes shifted from side to side. “I don’t understand.”

“I heard your speech at The Laughing Gnome. It’s a good plan, and we’re going to do it in two days, so you need to rest and get your strength back.”

“Who are ‘we’? Who are you? How did you manage this?”

Arista smiled. “Practice, I guess.”

“Practice?”

“Let’s just say this isn’t the first time I’ve had to save a kingdom from a traitorous murderer out to steal the throne. It’s okay. Just go back to sleep. It will—”

“Wait! You said your name is Arista?”

She nodded.

“You’re the Princess of Melengar!”

She nodded again. “Yes.”

“But … but how … Why?” He started to push up on the bed with his hands and winced.

“Calm down,” she told him firmly. “You need to rest. I mean it.”

“I shouldn’t be lying down in your presence!”

“You will if I tell you to, and I’m telling you to.”

“I—I just can’t believe … Why … why would you come here?”

“I’m here to help.”

“You’re amazing.”

“And you’re suffering from a flogging that would have killed any man with the good sense to know he should be dead. Now you need to go back to sleep this instant, and that’s an order. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

She smiled. “I’m not a ruling queen, Emery, just a princess. My brother is the king.”

Emery looked embarrassed. “Your Highness, then.”

“I would prefer it if you just called me Arista.”

Emery looked shocked.

“Go ahead, give it a try.”

“It’s not proper.”

“And is it proper that you should deny a princess’s request? Particularly one who saved your life?”

He shook his head slowly. “Arista,” he said shyly.

She smiled at him and, on an impulse, leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “Good night, Emery,” she said, and stepped back out of the room.

She walked back down the steps through the dark house and out the front door. The night was still. Just as Hadrian had mentioned, the sky was clear, showing a bountiful banquet of stars spilling across the vast blackness. Benning Street, a short lane that dead-ended at the Dunlaps’ carriage house, was empty.