“Are you?” Dexter chuckled. “Don’t answer that—I’m sure you are.” He took a step closer, invading her personal space. “You’re not the first person who has tried, and failed, to follow us. Let’s go.”

“That’s the wrong way.” He was headed away from the palace, not toward it.

“Aren’t you curious?” Dexter asked.

About what the brothers were up to? “Yes, but you don’t have to tell me. I don’t want to impose on whatever it is you are doing.”

“You’re not imposing,” Colbert assured her. “I’ve been wanting to tell you. It’s your fiancé who’s been on the fence. Seems he’s finally decided to trust you.”

Trust. That was a big, important, and loaded word. Suddenly, Reid wasn’t sure she wanted to be included. Whatever they were up to, the Knights wanted to know about it for a reason. “Wait.” If she didn’t discover their secret, she’d never have to worry about violating their trust.

“What is it?” Dexter asked.

“I’ll go back to the palace. You don’t need to include me.”

“Are you sure?” Dexter asked.

“I’m sure.”

He eyed her. “Sometimes I can’t figure you out.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“All right. Follow me.” Dexter led the way into a narrow alley.

Reid thought he was returning her to the palace in a roundabout way. However, he stopped before the door to a tall, narrow building. He unlocked it, then ushered her and Colbert inside.

A long hallway stretched out before them. Dexter opened a door on the right, and they descended a steep staircase. At the bottom, a single torch revealed a plain, empty room that had to be underground. There was a door on the wall opposite the stairs.

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” Dexter asked.

Colbert leaned against the wall, not saying a word as he watched Reid.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to decide what to do. If, as Anna suspected, Dexter was leading a group of revolutionaries, who were in direct opposition to what the Knights were trying to accomplish, it would force Reid into a precarious position.

“Now’s the time to reveal any secrets you may have.” Dexter waited for her to speak, his body tense but face relaxed.

It was obvious he knew she was keeping something from him. Given his well-trained soldiers, he probably had a network of spies to rival Ackley’s. “I barely know you.” Maybe the change she’d sensed in him lately was an act. Maybe he was only trying to gain her trust so she’d tell him everything she knew—about the Knights, about Ackley, about the king.

“We’re on the same side,” he insisted. “I’d like for us to start working together.”