The King called a special Court that morning to announce the news. Rumours swirled around the gathered nobles in the lead up to the King’s speech, but if anyone knew the reason they had been called, they were keeping quiet.

  Elara was as in the dark as any of them. As the crowd in the throne room grew, though, one fact became apparent.

  No one from the Duchy of Tarazin had shown up.

  It wasn’t that unusual for, say, the Duke of Tarazin to be away from the capital. Nobles had lands to administer. Very few of them managed to stay in Bures for more than half the year, and nobles were always coming and going. For all of the nobility of Tarazin to be away at the same time spoke of planning on someone’s part—either Duke Ariman or her father.

  When the signal came, Elara took her prescribed place, behind and to the left of the throne and composed her features. It wouldn’t do for her to look worried or, the gods forfend, surprised. She looked over at her brother, standing tall and proud as ever. He’d just come back from a delve in the east, acquitting himself admirably, she had been told.

  Her father made his entrance, as he had many times before. Elara thought that his shoulders might be a bit more bowed, his tread a little slower and heavier. But he was still the same man that she had always known and looked up to. King Kalond looked out over his assembled vassals and began to speak.

  “My friends,” he said. “I stand before you with ill news. The Duchy of Tarazin has risen in rebellion.”

  A wave of stifled gasps swept through the room. No one talked during the King’s speech, but this news was so shocking that the listeners couldn’t help but react. Elara struggled to maintain her composure. Did the duke take all his vassals with him? What did this mean for Suliel?

  The King wasn’t done talking.

  “They seek to put an imposter on the throne,” he said sadly. “For many years, a conspiracy has been secretly spreading among us. Hidden in the shadows, telling lies about us to all that would listen. While we knew of it, we were never able to root it out, and we never publicly acknowledged the traitors. To do so would have granted their lies more substance than they deserved.”

  Elara’s Perception was not high enough to make out words from the whispers that sprang up around the room. She knew what they were saying, though, because the same words were on her lips, silently echoing them.

  The Rose Circle.

  “Now that they have suborned a duke, they think they can operate in the open!” the King continued. “But make no mistake, this means only that they can now be dealt with. Firmly and finally.”

  He paused to let the murmurs die down.

  “Prince Driecht will be leading a force more than sufficient to end this rebellion and execute the traitors,” he declared. “You will be informed of your contributions tomorrow.”

  Frowns all around, but no protests. No one wanted to be sent to fight their countrymen, but that was the point of an oath of fealty.

  “One final matter needs to be spoken of,” the King said. “We know that the traitors are not limited to Tarazin. We have known for a while that this poisonous weed has taken root across the land. We have held back our hand, out of mercy and out of respect for the ancient compact that binds this kingdom together. This forbearance ends now.”

  He ended the speech there. Sweeping his stern gaze across the gathered nobles one last time, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. Her brother followed, no doubt to receive his orders.

  Elara had no such role to play. She was simply an ornament, glittering in the light that shone from two nations. She watched as the crowd in front of her broke up into smaller groups, urgently talking to each other in lowered voices. No one sought her out.

  After a minute of watching, she slipped away and returned to her quarters.

  News of the arrests started coming in later that afternoon.

  “So you see the position this places me in!” she complained.

  Zaphar thought about it. He looked up, then down, then all around the empty room as if the answer was to be found there.

  “I don’t,” he finally admitted.

  Elara sighed. “Your master is about to be proclaimed a rebel and a traitor, if it hasn’t happened already. How do you think it looks if I’m harbouring one of his people?”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Zaphar’s face twitched. “Bad?” he guessed. “But no one knows I’m working for him, and no one knows I’m working for you, so it should be all right? Right?”

  “I hope that’s the case. We’ve been discreet enough that it’s not glaringly obvious we’re working together, but Father’s spies are frighteningly competent.”

  Zaphar narrowed his eyes. “If they are so good, then why did you need to call on me, hey? But if you like, I can go back to Kirido and tell them you need to cut ties. They will understand.”

  Elara grimaced. “I can’t. Father’s spies don’t work for me, and there are boats that they—my father— aren’t willing to rock.”

  Boats like the Shadowblades. Elara didn’t want to think that her father allowed them to exist so that he could assassinate his enemies… but that was politics, wasn’t it?

  “So I do need you,” she continued. “I’ve come so far with your help, I can’t give up now.”

  She was so close, and it was all due to this man and his improbable luck. Elara didn’t want to think about the chain of unlikely events that had led Zaphar to the Shadowblade headquarters.

  “I am at your service, Princess,” Zaphar said, bowing. The bow was mocking, his tone less so. “But I thought my part would be done. You know the location of the headquarters, now. Can you not just arrange a raid?”

  “The Shadowblades have been raided before,” Elara said, grimacing. “Each time, they somehow became aware of it while the forces were gathering. By the time the guards arrived, the only thing left were traps.”

  “Ah. And the guards, they have had no luck in rooting out the rats in their ranks?”

  “They have not. And while I have my own guards, I don’t have enough of them to raid a den of assassins. So, I hesitate to ask after all you’ve done so far…”

  “You want me to sneak in and steal their books?” Zaphar chuckled softly. “You like keeping things interesting, don’t you?”

  “Is it possible?” Elara didn’t want to wait for another solution to present itself, but she didn’t want to misuse the gift that Suliel had given her. Even if she was a traitor.

  “Maybe,” Zaphar said, as he considered the problem. “If I can get some help from Calis, it might be possible.”

  “That woman?” Elara asked, trying to keep the disdain out of her voice. “Didn’t she try to kill you?”

  “That was… not a misunderstanding, exactly, but it’s behind us now.” Zaphar frowned. “She’ll need money, though, so you’ll need to provide that.”

  “Money, at least, is no problem. I just don’t trust that woman.”

  “Ah, well, trust, that is hard. But as long as she sees me as a source of coin, she will not sell me out, I think.”

  “Coin is not all that she wants from you,” Elara said primly. “You can’t keep leading her on forever.”

  “True, but I don’t have to. One more job should get you what you need, yes? And should the worst come, I can always give her what she wants. It would be no hardship.”

  “You wouldn’t!” Elara gasped. That woman was criminal trash, while Zaphar… admittedly, he wasn’t yet ready for polite society. But he would be. For someone with access to the highest echelons of society to waste himself with some— Elara stopped. Zaphar was laughing at the look on her face.

  “It’s funny,” he said, before she could ask why. “When I was on the streets, no one looked at me, and I liked it that way. Now I have a Class with Charisma, and everybody looks at me. Everyone wants to know who I am looking at, and they have opinions on where I should be looking.”

  Elara felt her face grow warm. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have assumed.”

  “It’s fine,” Zaphar said. “The thing about this Class… all those people looking, they do not see me.”

  He smiled, still amused by Elara’s embarrassment.

  “There is a girl, back in Kirido. We met… not before I became a Fae-touched Rogue, but before I progressed much. I helped her through some things, and she… she sees me. I would be back in Kirido now, but there is not much call for a rogue there, and Kelsey promised me excitement and adventure.”

  “I suppose you could say she delivered on that promise,” Elara said slowly.

  “Yes! So many levels! So much danger! More than anyone could need. But anyway, we have made no promises. So I do not think she will be too mad if I sleep with Calis, or one of your noble friends.”

  His smile fell away. “More than most, she understands that sometimes these things have to be done.”

  “I understand,” Elara lied. She didn’t understand how some commoner could compare to a woman of quality, but she knew better than to say so. There was no accounting for taste.

  “So, this job,” Zaphar said. “With Calis, it is possible. Without… I would need a way to see magic. My Class may eventually provide, but not yet.”

  Elara frowned. “Such items are only Tier Two, but highly sought after.”

  “They must be very useful,” Zaphar said mildly.

  “It’s a rare trait for anyone that isn’t a mage,” Elara told him. “At least… it might be a little more common in the criminal Classes,” she admitted.

  “I am not sure if Calis's Class counts as that,” Zaphar mused. “Her work is mostly… legitimate retrieval, after all.”

  “It’s probably due to her association with that mage,” Elara said. “But, in any case, what good does it do to be able to see magic?”

  “It turns out that my rapier can cut magic,” Zaphar explained.

  “You can counter magic with it?” Elara exclaimed. That would be…

  “No, no,” Zaphar replied. “It only disrupts it for a moment. And from what Calis says, proper spells are more… self-contained.”

  He made a circling gesture with his finger. “It is only with wards that the magic… circles. And the disruption does not end the spell, it just creates a moment that one can step through the ward—if one is quick.”

  He grinned at the princess.

  “And if there is one thing that my progression has granted me, it is speed.”

  “That isn’t something a gentleman should boast of,” Elara said primly. “But you’re saying you can get past the wards?”

  “Yes. They will have guards and watchers as well, of course,” Zaphar said. “Even as your palace does.”

  Elara frowned. “Have you been casing the royal palace?” she asked angrily.

  “No need, no need,” Zaphar replied. “They talk, in the bars you send me to frequent. They share tips about the places they can’t get into.”

  “They talk about breaking into the palace?”

  Zaphar shrugged. “They are criminals, after all. But no, they don’t share details about where they can break into. They keep those details secret. No, they boast about the places that are impossible to steal from.”

  “Why do that?” Elara asked.

  “To see if anyone doesn’t want to talk about it,” Zaphar answered.

  this chapter?

  your meetings, but I did see the all-hands memorandum about there being a problem with Zaphar. How he was added in because the party needed a rogue, but then it turned out that there wasn't much for him to do, and what there was had to happen off-screen. There was a whole thing about whether we made him a POV character, but that would break the established rules.

  read the all-hands memos?