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“I’m… I’m going to be late.”

“No worries there,” Nevelyn replied. “Saul isn’t coming, Edna.”

Wine sloshed out of her cup. Edna hissed a curse before drinking deeply again.

“Not coming? But he wrote a letter… the sweetest letter…”

“I wrote that letter.”

Edna’s face looked stricken. Only for a moment, though. She fell back to adoration a breath later. “You won’t remember any of this tomorrow,” Nevelyn informed her. “Not a word of it. The amount of wine you’ve had? It could knock out someone twice your size. But the others will remember that you stayed late. They’ll remember you were meeting your friend here. It won’t be hard for them to piece it all together. Saul arrived. The two of you looked around the empty playhouse and thought it was a fine opportunity to be alone together. A little drinking. A little fun. If only it hadn’t gotten so out of hand…”

Edna set the empty glass down on the table. “The… the world is spinning.”

Nevelyn stood. She offered one final push of magic.

“Come with me. I know where you can lie down.”

Edna agreed. She followed Nevelyn up the stairs. She paused briefly to listen for noises before aiming her ward toward Anna Mata’s dressing room. The unquestioned star of their current run.

“Why don’t you go to sleep?”

Edna agreed again. She set out her own cloak, curled up like a baby, and fell asleep in almost no time at all. Nevelyn released the magic. Her hands were trembling with the effort. It was by far the longest casting she’d ever done. Suddenly she felt an enormous thirst. Her throat was a desert. Her lips cracked. There was a half-filled cup on the nearest table. She gulped down the entire thing.

Edna was already snoring. Nevelyn looked down at her.

“You poor thing,” she said. “At least you deserve this.”

And then she set to work. It took the better part of an hour. She patiently removed Edna’s clothing, trying her best to keep the girl covered. Anna wore a lovely white dress for the opening scenes. The material was gossamer and delicate. She slid Edna into the dress before taking the rest of the wine and creating stains all along the front.

Next, she set out several coats, stacked neatly in one corner, and constructed a makeshift bed. She didn’t want Edna waking in the middle of the night due to discomfort. She might flee the scene. Far better if she remained comfortable. Far better if someone found her here in the early morning hours. After finishing that task, Nevelyn went back to the seamstress room. A quick rinse of all the glasses. She stole back the letter she’d forged and headed upstairs. Nevelyn glided through the shadowed backstage with a smile on her face.

“One down. Two to go.”

The back door would be locked on the outside, but magicked so that she could still leave. She gave the door a shouldering heave. It felt cool and lovely. Night had come, bringing a fine breeze with it. She turned back to close the door and jumped out of her skin. A man was moving toward her through the shadows. She let out a clipped scream.

“Whoa. Gods! I’m sorry, Nan. I was just… It’s just me.”

It was Garth. Nevelyn’s heart was thundering in her chest. She couldn’t have been more scared. Worse, now there was a witness. Someone who’d seen her leave the scene last. If it came down to questioning, would Garth give her away? She forced those thoughts carefully aside.

“What are you doing here? Stalking me?”

He sputtered at that. “No. Well, I… I wrote to you?”

Nevelyn remembered the slips. She’d tucked them into the front pocket of her jacket.

“I know. I found them today.”

He offered a hesitant smile. “You didn’t think they were funny?”

Nevelyn snorted. “No. I mean, yes. They were funny.”

“Oh good. So you can read.”

“Of course I can read, you prat.”

He laughed. “Well, that makes one of us. I had to get Daft to write all of those for me.”

“Oh. Is that so? Well then, why isn’t he here? Seems like he should be the one to take me to dinner.…”