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ESSA

W e stood together in one of the palace wine cellars—Rohree, Ollie, Clua, and me.

“I’m not sending her in alone,” I said. “Even if what the oracle said weren’t true, I would never send a friend down into the catacombs alone at night.”

“She’s a peri,” Ollie argued.

As a sprite, Rohree had the ability to become nearly invisible; all her kind could. To the trained eye, she’d appear as the faintest shimmer in the air. To everyone else, she’d be undetectable. Ollie was quite right that she had the best chance of any of us of sneaking in and out without being caught if whoever had brought those crates down there had posted sentries. Still, I hated the idea of sending her in alone.

“If she’s holding a torch, people will still see her,” Clua pointed out. “And she has to hold a torch or she won’t be able to see.”

“I have a glowstone,” Rohree said, holding up a smooth, palm-size rock that gave off an eerie, bluish light.

Glowstones weren’t so rare. They were the most common vestiges of elven artifacts still around. Most curiosity shops had at least one or two for sale—although they didn’t come cheap.

“See? If someone is about to grab her, all she has to do is put the stone in her pocket and step to one side and they’ll never find her,” Ollie said. “The rest of us can’t do that.”

“I’m going with her,” I said again, with growing irritation. The smell of the barreled wine and curing cheese and hanging sausage around us was making me hungry—and irritable.

The entrances to the catacombs were all supposed to be locked and guarded as a part of the palace’s security protocol. But I had grown up in the castle, and I knew there were dozens of entrances that the palace guards probably weren’t even aware of—like this one. A hole that led to the caves beyond could be accessed by pulling back a loose wall panel next to this wine rack. We’d had to roll three barrels of pickles aside to access it, so it was no wonder it had escaped the guards’ attention. The hole had seemed big enough when I was a child, but as I looked at it now, I saw that a large man would never fit through. Even for a smaller man like Ollie, it would have been a tight squeeze. But a sprite could fit easily.

Rohree stepped in front of me and put a hand on my arm. “Essa,” she said gently. “Ollie is right.”

“I usually am,” he shrugged.

“I’m the one most likely to get in and out unnoticed,” Rohree pressed. “You have your challenge in just two days and Kit’s duel is tomorrow.”

“The poet’s fight has nothing to do with?—”

She gave me a sharp look. “It has everything to do with you,” she said. “You’re distracted. You’re stressed. And besides, the tunnel is a tight squeeze, at least until it reaches the catacombs. I’m quite sure I’m a faster crawler than you.”

I looked down at the stump of my right arm. She was right. Crawling wasn’t my strong suit.

“I am a bit of a three-legged table,” I said, giving everyone a tense laugh.

“Then let me come,” Clua said, putting a hand on the mace at her belt. “I’m small. And I’ll smash anyone who hassles you into fish-bait.”

“But you can’t turn invisible,” Rohree said. “You can fight, sure. But someone spotted you, it would put us both in danger.”

Clua smoldered, but she couldn’t argue with Rohree’s point.

Rohree was far more than just a handmaid. She’d done spy work before—for me as well as my mother—and as much as I hated sending her in alone, I knew she could handle herself.

“Great. Then it’s decided,” Ollie pulled the wood panel back further, ushering Rohree toward the blackness beyond.

“We’ll wait for you here,” I said.

“No,” Ollie replied. “I’ll stay.”

“But—” I started to protest.

“If I’m found down here, I can say I’m grabbing a bottle of wine you requested. What will we say if a princess found down in the storerooms?”

“I get my own wine plenty,” I huffed.

“The gods know you do,” Ollie said. “But it’s more suspicious. If I’m seen down here, no one will raise an eyebrow.”

I sighed. “You are all so vexing. Especially when you’re right. Fine, Rohree. Go. But be careful. And come back to my chambers the moment you’re finished.”

The sprite gave a dutiful nod, then turned, dropped to her knees, and crawled into the hole. When she’d disappeared, Ollie slid the wall panel back in place.

“If she calls for help or if anything happens?—”

Ollie’s hand went to the hilt of his sword. “I’ll take care of her, Essa. Now go. Before someone sees you.”

Grudgingly, I took Clua’s arm and together we made our way out of the cellar. As we went, I grabbed a dusty bottle of Easastar Red.

“To pass the time while we wait,” I explained.

She grabbed a wheel of cheese. “I’ll do you one better,” she said, and together we let the flickering light of our candle lead us back up the steps.