“I think I know why,” Silene says before striding over to us. She places her hands on her hips. “She has a mole.” Her posture exudes confidence. She’s sure about this.

“What makes you think that?” I ask.

“Here’s what we know. The Queen told us to keep our arrangement a secret from her advisors. She tried to play it off as them being too bureaucratic and slowing things down. But letting rebel prisoners go is a big thing to keep from them, based on what we’ve seen about how she rules.” She makes a good point. While it wouldn’t be unusual for my father to keep important things from his advisors, Laurel’s different. There has to be a reason she doesn’t want them involved. “And then today, she made up an excuse to send Carex away—the Captain of her Royal Guard, no less. Why keep the breakout secret from the Captain of the Royal Guard, unless she was afraid it might somehow get back to the rebels that we’re working together? He’d make the breakout much easier to pull off. Even if her advisors would slow something like this down, you’d think she’d at least want Carex to know what’s going on. She has to have a mole. It’s the only explanation.”

As usual, Silene has guessed all the players and plays before most of us even knew there was a game afoot. Queen Laurel keeping this information from us stings a bit. I understand she doesn’t trust us, but this is critical information to share with potential allies. It’s a good reminder of how far we have to go to truly earn her trust, much less become friendly.

“It has to be Carex,” Fionn grunts while inspecting the weapons rack. “He’s always snooping around. I heard him tell the Queen he ran into us while leaving the training room, but that wasn’t true. I clocked him following us from our rooms.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, incredulous.

Fionn only shrugs. “Wanted to see what he was up to before I revealed we knew he was there.” And just as Silene knows how to play the game, Fionn knows when to watch and learn. My friends are both too intelligent and good at what they do. I’m just a bloke with a crown and a handsome face. I’d be nothing without them.