The drawing room outside the bedchamber is like an ancient woodblock rendering of a scene from a historic castle. The stone floors, walls, ceiling, and even the large hearth have the same antiquated construction as the bedchamber. A large oak wood slab serves as a table in the center of the room, a large vase of orchids and a silver bell arranged atop it.

Lexi begins to realize these rooms and this castle are from another time and another world, one far more primitive yet striving for an aesthetic sense of civility, even high culture. She hasn’t seen an interior like this fully intact in any building in the nation.

Two heavy doors are closed off to her right. Lexi moves to them quickly and pulls on the rungs, finding herself locked in.

Light is filling the space. It’s the afternoon sun pouring in through the panes of large picture window on the other side of the room. Lexi gathers her skirt and jogs across the cold stone floor. Unlike the door, the windows are unlocked. She pulls them open and steps to the edge, peering several hundred feet down at an expansive and beautiful garden. Manicured hedges extend over a hundred yards to a wall separating the courtyard from the treeline beyond.

Lexi doesn’t see anyone moving among the foliage, and it’s far too great a distance to jump, even if she landed on the softest patch of the garden. There are no ledges of crags in the walls outside her window, either.

Her mind reels with rough drafts of plans that range from improbable to impractical to utterly absurd. They all seem to end in failure when played out inside her head.

The sound of footsteps on stone echoes loudly beyond the locked doors of her apartment cell. Lexi turns from the tall picture window and walks quickly across the drawing room. She pauses when she sees the shadowy outline of feet through the crack beneath the doors. Lexi hears the outside latch spring free, and watches as both halves fling open.

Daian enters the drawing room. He’s no longer wearing his Aegin’s uniform. He appears to have traded its green tunic and baldric for a pitch-black tunic and vest. His dagger is sheathed from his right hip, slung low so the handle rises just above the heel of his palm when his arm is at rest at his side. He winks at her silently as he moves inside the room.

“You’ve given up your costume, I see,” Lexi says to him, hoping she sounds unafraid and in control.

Daian wags a finger at her, a chastising gesture. “Hardly a costume. I was a very good Aegin. I served the common folk. I resisted the corruption of my fellows. Some of them even tried to kill me for it. I simply have a higher calling, that’s all.”

“You’re corrupt in a much deeper way, from what I’ve seen.”