Page 101

Violet looks from me to them and back. “Am I supposed to do that?” she whispers.

“No.” I study her in the morning light. “You were gone so long. I thought something happened to—” My eyes fall on her bare feet, which are red and blistered, one toe stubbed and bloodied. I snap my gaze up. There are so many more important things to worry about, but I say, “I told you to buy boots, Violet.”

Thorin and Saeth exchange a glance.

Quint looks like he’s not entirely sure what to make of this conversation.

Violet doesn’t even look chagrined. “Well, I wasgoingto, but I wanted to give some extra coins to Toby. Then I kept thinking about how you said you weren’t coming back, and I didn’t want anyone to think the Fox was gone, so I kept leaving a few coins on the other doorsteps. Just here and there.”

Of course she did.

Today, however, I can’t be irritated. It reminds me of the way Maxon gave me his medicine. And Violet likely risked her life.

“Did you run all that way in bare feet?” I say.

“I didn’t run thewholeway. It took me a long time at the gate. And then I couldn’t find the palace. It’s not like I’ve ever been inside the Royal Sector. You could’ve told me it was in themiddle.”

I look at Quint. “Have a pair of boots sent.”

He opens his mouth, then closes it. He draws a small book from inside his jacket and makes a note. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

I look between him and Violet. “I said no guards.”

She scowls. “I told him that, but he wouldn’t listen.” She huffs. “Gryff wouldn’t listen either. It tookhoursto convince him to fetch Master Quint. I had to sing until I didn’t think I’d have a voice left.”

I have the sense that I can’t follow this conversation. “You … you had tosing?”

“Yes. He wouldn’t listen. He said your ring was a fake. So I sat down and sang every annoying song I know, and it’s alot, I tell you—”

“She sang until daybreak,” Quint says. “Meanwhile, when you did not return, I had to alert Thorin. We were beginning to discuss a discreet search party when one of the day maids mentioned the girl singing at the palace steps.” He takes a step forward, but then he seems to think better of it. He glances from my leg to my head, and his mouth forms a line. “Your Majesty,” he says quietly. “Forgive me, but you’re bleeding.” He pauses. “We’ve brought a closed carriage.”

“Good.” I touch a hand to my ear, and I’m surprised when it comes away wet with fresh blood. “Who else knows of this?”

“No one yet,” Quint says. “Sullivanis a person of interest. That’s all.”

I look at Thorin. “Who among the guards?”

“Just us.” He hesitates and glances at Saeth again. “We all know how Huxley has an ear for gossip. We’ve been keeping close ranks.”

Huxley has more than just an ear for gossip, but I don’t say that.

I straighten from the wall, and Saeth steps forward to help me, but I wave him off. I still feel too unsteady, and I want to walk out of here on my own two feet.

“Violet,” I say to her. “Can I trust you to keep this secret?”

As I say the question, I know the answer. Even if she promises, even if she swears, this is too big.

She shakes her head anyway, and I must look fierce, because she throws up her hands. “Well, I had to tell Toby.” Her expression turns somber. “In case something happened to me. I needed someone to tell Ma.”

As if on cue, a boy of about ten years old comes skidding into the barn. He’s barefoot, too, and so quick that Thorin and Saeth both have weapons drawn before he even comes to a stop.

The boy cries out and flails backward, sitting down hard in the straw. But he doesn’t look frightened. He looksfascinated. “I saw the carriage, Vi! Are those real palace guards?”

“Real enough, boy,” says Saeth. “Is anyone else coming behind you?”

“No,” he says. Toby’s gaze skips past them, then looks to me and Quint. His eyes go even wider, and he scrambles to his feet. He bows to Quint, who’s in a half-buttoned red brocade jacket. “Your Majesty.”

“Ah … no,” says Quint. But he glances at the boy’s feet, then draws out his little notebook again and makes a note. He looks to me. “Your Majesty,” he says pointedly. “Perhaps we should depart while it’s still early.”