Bitterblue lifted both legs in the air and used them as leverage to swing herself up to a seated position. “Everybody,” she said. “I know how to get me and Giddon into the house, and I think I could make it very distracting.”

—

Sometime later, Bitterblue and Giddon trotted up to the Cavendas’ front gate.

All had gone to plan so far. Hava had taken off first, then, sometime later, Nev. Davvi had followed Nev. Then, climbing out of their cavern under a pale pink sky, Bitterblue, Giddon, and Lovisa had stepped into the forest, passed through the trees, and found the road. The road had led them to the high stone wall.

“That’s it,” Lovisa had said. “I’ll hang back and hide behind trees.”

“All right,” Giddon had said, still not liking Lovisa’s uncertain role. The hope was to get her onto the property secretly somehow, so that her native knowledge would be available to the others, but she seemed so unfriendly and remote that Giddon didn’t entirely trust her. Should they really be bringing the daughter of the house to the storming of the house? Mightn’t she have her own agenda? “We’ll be near,” he added.

When Bitterblue and Giddon reached the gate, they found only one guard. Also, the gate he was guarding was open, which was going to make things much, much easier. The guard was tall, but slight. Giddon was taller.

“Hello!” Bitterblue cried, speaking in Lingian, then following her greeting with a strange bow that involved a lot of expansive arm movements. The guard, watching her with a puzzled and nonplussed expression, didn’t respond. Giddon imagined he was getting pretty weary of random visitors showing up at his gate this morning.

“I am the Queen of Monsea!” Bitterblue almost shouted.

Something cleared in the guard’s face. “Another one?” he said, in Keepish. “I met one last month.”

“The others are imposters,” Bitterblue cried in Lingian, bowing again. She swept a hand at Giddon. “This is my royal retainer!”

“And what’s your act?” the guard asked, in Keepish.

“Not dancing!” she announced. “Not naughty dancing either!” which briefly startled Giddon. She held her hand out to the guard, fingers closed over something. “And now,” she said, “are you ready for a little magic?”

Grinning, the guard held his palm open to her. She made a show of opening her hand, but when she did, it was empty. She shook the hand and glared at it, making frustrated noises at it as if it were malfunctioning.

“My magic is stuck at the moment,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sure you’re very good,” said the guard kindly, still responding to her Lingian with Keepish, which was making Giddon a little dizzy. Behind him, Giddon heard the tiniest movement, which he guessed to be Lovisa slipping from tree to tree, so he made his shoulders big and tried to block the guard’s view.