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They were behaving more like they were in an occupied territory than a friendly local city.

She kept the Kassian soldiers in view as she walked around, making sure to avoid getting too close to them.

They were boisterous and loud, and making her mission a lot easier.

When she was out of small squares, she walked away from the tables and Deni and Oscar drifted out of the crowd to stand beside her. “Let’s go find an inn for the night, and make it one that’s hosting Kassian soldiers.”

“You get anything?” Oscar asked.

She shook her head. “Just the same gossip. We need to find someone who actually knows what the plans are, and that means a Kassian officer.”

And they had better be quick about it. Ava didn’t know what the Kassian were plotting, but she knew the Rising Wave was at stake.

Chapter 33

“So why is your hair so short?” The Kassian officer leering at her from his booth in the inn’s dining area had to shout to be heard over the noise of his fellow soldiers.

“I had lice and had to shave it off a few months ago,” Ava said.

He laughed uproariously. “Do you want to come up to my room?” He did something with his eyebrows that Ava thought was supposed to be suggestive, but he was too drunk to pull it off.

“Certainly. Let’s go.” She hopped down from the stool she was sitting on, and Oscar reached out to grab her by the shoulder.

“We’ll be just outside the door.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on her target.

Oscar released her and she didn’t look back at either him or Deni as she helped the officer up the stairs.

She had never tried a working on someone who was drunk, and she didn’t know if it would help her or turn out to be a waste of time.

The problem was, all the officers below were drunk. She had to work with what she had.

“Hold this a minute, and I’ll open the door,” she said, taking his key from him and giving him a piece of embroidery.

She turned the key, stepping into the room warily. There didn’t seem to be enough rooms at this particular inn for everyone getting drunk downstairs to have their own room, but she had obviously found someone with enough rank to warrant some privacy.

“Come in,” she invited, and he clutched the fabric to his chest and stumbled after her.

“Would you like some water?” She found the pitcher on a table near the bed, and poured it into a glass.

He drank it down as if he were a child following orders.

“Why don’t you sit?”

He didn’t look for a chair, he simply folded his legs and landed on the floor.

It made her feel slightly queasy how easily she could manipulate him.

“You look like Princess Ava Valestri.” He tried to waggle his eyebrows again. “Can I call you that while I fuck you?”

Ava went still. “How do you know what the princess looks like? Most people don’t even know she exists.”

“A drawing sent out by the Queen’s Herald after she went missing. Only the senior officers know. We were told to look out for her.” He held out his glass and she poured more water into it. “I think the Queen’s Herald is in trouble about it.” He snickered.

“That picture is wrong, you know. It doesn’t look anything like the princess.”

“Oh.” He nodded sagely. “But can I still call you that when we—”