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‘The private wing of the consuls and their guests and families,’ he explained, gesturing for me to go first.

This part of the building was cosier than anything I’d seen so far, no cold marble but gleaming old wood, candlelight, and a worn, slightly dusty hall rug guiding our way. I struggled to keep my bearings as we walked up a winding staircase, went left, left, and right again, stepped through a door that looked like all the others and ended up in yet another corridor, until finally my guide slowed down and gestured at a side passage to our left. A faint glimmer of daylight was visible around the corner; whatever side of the building we were on now, there had to be a window there.

‘Your rooms are here,’ Delwin announced, again politely stepping aside to let me go first. ‘I’ve been instructed to wait here with you until—’

His mouth snapped shut.

And only then did I notice the woman standing beside my guest room door.

She’d taken up position just next to the window at the dead end of the corridor, so that my eyes had been drawn to thebright world outside first and the shadows had concealed even her stark white robes for a moment. Like a thief trained to hide, except everything else about her rendered that stray thought utterly ridiculous – she could not have lookedlesslike someone with malicious intentions, this small woman with her dignified clothing and her delicate features and the first strands of grey streaking her dark brown hair. Nor was there anything sinister about the smile that appeared upon her face as she turned towards us, warm and kind and sparkling with just the slightest hint of mischief.

‘Ah, thank you, Delwin.’ She sounded the way she looked – gentle, but with a core of steel below that tender surface. ‘Fast as always, of course.’

‘And yet you seem to be even faster,’ he said, with a gesture that lay somewhere between a nod and a bow – respectful, but the respect exchanged between equals who appreciate each other’s competence, rather than the unconditional reverence demanded by so many of the rulers I’d met in the past few months. ‘Happy to report we did not run into any complications. Do you need me here for anything else, or shall I move on to the rest of the list?’

‘The rest of the list, thank you.’ Her eyes flicked towards him for a moment as she spoke, then darted back to me – inspecting me, undeniably, no matter how courteously she went about it. ‘I’ll let you know if anything comes up, but if not, I’ll see you at the assembly tonight.’

Delwin just nodded again, turned on his heel, and marched out with perfect military efficiency, leaving me in that wood-and-sunshine corridor with the white-dressed woman whose identity I was rapidly developing strong suspicions about. The lily brooch on her chest alone was a glaring hint – too close to the city crest.

Neither of us spoke as the thudding of his heavy boots died away. She took her time sizing me up, not unlike Miss Matilda taking stock of her new clients, assessing all that could be fixed and improved about them. My small bag. My two bargain marks. My harmless blue dress and slightly worn boots …

I waited. Something about those clever blue eyes told me she’d see through my guise of the humble, innocent human girl the moment I opened my mouth.

‘So there you are,’ she said as she finally lifted her gaze back up to my face – speaking the words slowly, thoughtfully, as if to taste every letter of them. ‘Emelin of Agenor’s house.’

There was a knifelike precision to that greeting.I know who you are, the crystal-clear message between the lines said.I knowwhatyou are. Signing your letter as a human did not fool me for half a second, girl.

As she was right, I decided not to insult her intelligence by correcting her.

‘A pleasure to meet you,’ I said instead, which I suspected would either turn out to be true or farther from the truth than anything I’d said today. She looked capable of making one’s life extremely uncomfortable, if given reason to. ‘Consul Rosalind, I presume?’

‘Oh, just call me Rosalind,’ she said, waving that point away with a single, resolved flick of her wrist. ‘The title makes me feel old. Glad to finally meet you, Emelin.’

It sounded genuine. And yet …

We’ve been hoping you would reach out to us, she’d written in yesterday’s letter. Now that I had seen the city she called her home, it seemed even more implausible that that was the full truth: who in the world would behopingfor the stench of war to finally creep into this peaceful corner of the archipelago?

But I could hardly ask her to her face, my wariness likely to reinforce her efforts to keep whatever secrets she was keeping.

I settled for half a smile and said, ‘I’m grateful you could receive me so swiftly. It’s been wonderful to see a little of the city.’

‘I’m glad it’s been to your liking so far.’ There was a strained quality to the smile she returned, not so much insincerity but rather the sense of an underlying emotion she was doing her best to suppress. ‘Would you like to see more of it, or would you prefer to have a cup of tea in a calmer part of the Hall? After all you’ve been up to in the past weeks, I imagine a quiet morning would not be unwelcome.’

I stared at her.

She cocked her head, one lock of brown hair escaping its pins. ‘Or, of course, if you’d rather spend your morning in any other way …’

‘No!’ I blurted, surprise getting in the way of politeness for a moment. ‘No, I’d love to see— I just didn’t expect— Don’t you have more important things to do than show guests around the city? Like … rule the place?’

‘Reading three hundred complaints about the flowerbeds we removed from the Sailors’ Park versus having a chat with the young woman preparing to confront the enemy who has been intent on eradicating us for centuries?’ This time, the smile tugging at her lips looked entirely genuine. ‘I have to admit, it was a difficult choice to make.’

A laugh burst from my lips – I couldn’t help it. ‘Alright, but …’

‘I’m in no hurry,’ she added, smile evaporating. ‘If you’d prefer to quickly refresh yourself first, I’m happy to meet you downstairs in a bit.’

‘Oh, no.’ I gestured sheepishly at my spotless blue dress, not a wrinkle to be found. ‘I got here by alf and carriage, so there’s nothing to recover from. Just … Are you sure it will be fine if I start striding around the city? Considering that I’m not technically supposed to be here …’

‘Ah.’ She sighed, averting her gaze in what looked suspiciously like an eyeroll in disguise. ‘Yes, about that. The short answer is: given that you’re here with our permission, you are free to go wherever you wish. The long answer is that, per my colleagues’ request, we would ask you not to discuss politics without any government members present in their official capacity and not to use any magic within the walls of the city. Considering that half of our inhabitants have never seen fae powers before at all and the other half have lost friends and family to them, it might cause a bit of a stir, you see.’