“It’s morning again.”

Avery had taken to sitting in the corner while I slept instead of going to the library. Not that I had slept that night.

Did he know? Was he just waiting for me to slip up? Toying with me, as a tiegan would before it devoured it's prey?

Feeling heavy, I dressed in a light pink dress and put on a light expression.

When I walked out into the Captain’s office, I nearly died of fright at the Captain’s being there.

He looked unusually drained, and I attempted to pass without disturbing his rest, once I recovered from my near heart-attack. The words, “Miss Avery.” stopped me from turning the door handle to leave.

“Yes, Captain?”

“You look very pretty today. You must have plans in the city.” He was not even looking. His eyes were closed.

“Yes, Captain. Today is my day off, remember?” At some point, I had declared that I would take the third day of every other phase off, although it had not mattered in a long time.

“I do not recall agreeing to that. Come and sit down.”

It was very strange to see him with his eyes closed. He almost felt like a different person. I had not known his eyes could close.

“You have not forgotten, I think, the case of the missing young bride? We spoke of it some time ago.”

We had spoken of it the day before. “I remember,” I said softly. How could I ever forget?

“I directed you to research the situation. You never said whether you learned anything of import.”

He almost looked like a person who could be called ‘Eliot’. Avery remembered our research, done on sunny afternoons after mornings spent pretending to be without any cares or deep concerns with a handsome man in a pretty garden. “There is no precedent for it, but there is a law regarding divorce. If the unwilling spouse can provide good reason, along with character references, a legal separation can be granted. In this case, her unwillingness to be married at all—you are shaking your head, Captain.” I felt my hope evaporate.

“I do not know that it will be enough, given the time lapse.”

“Do you mean to say that it is too late? Because it took the girl a year to escape, to seek help, she cannot be granted freedom from a tyrant?” I spoke too heatedly, too desperately. The Captain opened his eyes to study me. “You said yourself—” I began weakly, but I could not think of anything he had said.

“I was not aware you were listening.” He leaned forward and placed his folded hands on the desk. “If she had brought her case right away, or within a year, it would have been easy to grant legal separation. But it has been 15 moons since the wedding, and the marriage was agreed upon a year before that.”

25 Moons, 3 phases, 2 days. I had been so caught up in everything, I had not noticed. The papers I had signed on the wedding day must have been agreement papers, and the wedding papers were signed later. It would not have been hard for him to arrange. “Then, it is impossible.”

We can flee. Sebastien said he’s going to Vior in winter, right?

The Captain leaned back again, and a man named Eliot returned with an expression of dismay. “It will not be easy. That she was underage may help her case. I am surprised the count even admitted to it.”

“Did he not have to?”

“You should know that.”

I was not thinking clearly. “If her birth was unregistered—” I stopped. The count did not want there to be any confusion about who he had married.

“It is common in such small towns—often there is no one to register with in the area, and it is not worth the trouble to travel for it.”

“But, I was registered.”

“Some people are,” the man Eliot was apparently too tired to realize that my emphasis had been incriminating. “Often villagers are registered in Essel or another sizable city nearby. Judging the records,” Eliot shuffled a few papers around, “there was no record of this girl there.”

“No record there, but here…” Vaguely, I recognized that my slips were magically passing his notice. “Then why was her age mentioned?” My mind was only half aware of my words. Instead, I was trying to visualize one of the law books I had read. “Captain, in order to be registered as a journeyman, does a person’s birth have to have been recorded?”

“Most apprentices are registered in the same city as their birth, but anyone can be registered in Saliz.” He blinked and the Captain returned. “In this case, he cited her young age as a reason to find her quickly, and to guard against the suspicion that she ran away.”

Distracted, I said, “But, that makes no sense.” Why had the Count alerted the Captain to my presence in the city? It fit that he would want his plot to be suspected. He was proud and vain enough for that. But was it not also a great risk?

“You are thinking like a young girl.”

“I am young girl.”

“But you must think as he does.”

I made a noise to express my opinion of that idea.

“Miss Avery.”

I held my breath, and Avery held my face straight.

Satisfied that I would hold my tongue, he said, “As an older man, it must be understood that a young girl could be easily swayed by a young man. Thus, her running away is a flight of fancy. She is only a young girl.”

That left a bitter taste. Avery reacted first. “What, a young girl has not the intelligence to know a bad situation when she is in one, and run from it?”

“This Count Tergin would argue that she was not running from but running to. And many would agree with him.”

“Men.”

“Women, too. It is not a question of her gender but rather her age. Those who are older often underestimate youth. Consider the Thieves Guild’s reluctance to acknowledge the padfoots until their prized Masterwork gold picks went missing and mysteriously reappeared in the padfoots little hands.”

Was there nothing he did not know? “But you disagree?”

“As you say, even a young girl knows to leave a bad situation, if she is able.”

“Does the count know you would think that way?”

“I do not believe we have met before, but most of the Families know what sort of man I am.”

“That’s why,” I half-gasped. The Count was confident, but he would not have taken risks needlessly. But he would go out of his way to make someone he did not like feel stupid.

From his letter, he definitely knows you’re here.

That was why he used Kiva’s picture. He was laughing at the Captain, and he was laughing at me.

“You think your safe in your little cage, have you forgotten? I hold the key.”

“Complete your thought.”

I could not say it. I could not have guessed if not for my personal knowledge of the Count. I searched for something, anything, else, and without considering the implications, said, “Thorne left his exile to register his student. After living so long as a hermit, why come all the way here instead of going to Essel? But if a journeyman has to be registered in the city of—”

Avery clapped a hand over my mouth. Why would some northern bumpkin be registered in Saliz? No one but Father would have bothered with such a formality!

He had bothered, and he and Mother and fought about it horribly, that he had dared to put his name on her children when he was never around to protect us.

“We will have to speak with him,” the Captain was back so strongly that I stood with him automatically before my brain caught up.

Avery yelling did not help. Are you trying to move into the dungeons permanently?

What had I done? “We? Not me. It’s my day off.” I sat back down. It took a lot of willpower against the Captain’s determination.

He ignored my words. “Come.” He moved to the door.

“Right this moment? It’s—”

You’re dead. This is it. This is the last moment of your life.

His expression suggested that he was perfectly willing to drag me out in chains if need be, day off or no.

Savour everything. The smell of cold stone, the feeling of movement, that burn in your throat. These are your last sensations.

I followed quickly. “Can I at least eat something first?” Before the end.

Seated in the Captain’s carriage—all that time, he had his own, and we never used it—on my way to my last moments of freedom, I asked a question that had been constantly in the back of my mind. “Captain, why did you choose me to be your assistant? Surely you could have found someone more suited to the task, outside of the palace dungeons.”

He sat straight and still, sun shining onto his face through the carriage’s open sides. Even in such a small space, I could not read his expression at all.

“I cannot be the most clever person you could find.” I fidgeted nervously, half-wishing I had just kept quiet. But then, we were on our way to see Master Thorne about his student, and his student was me. When that came out, how much else would the Captain question? I wanted to know. It was bothering me more and more each day.

“I already answered that question.”

Had he?

“I interviewed many candidates who were unsuitable.”

“Still,” I could not help saying, having started, “it does not seem sensible to choose a criminal to be an apprentice lawmaker.”

“A criminal often understands the law far better than a law-abiding citizen, and a criminal is also more likely to understand the mind of another criminal. You demonstrated that superbly with the baker and the false padfoot.”

“That was a case that you could have, and did, solve on your own.”

“You are only an assistant. I do not expect you to be solving cases on your own.”

“But, you do not even know my character!”

Dig, dig. You’re not even trying to live.

“Your character was vouched for by Freddie.”

“He claimed me?” I could not believe it.

“They attempted to spring you.”

“They did?” I felt my eyes watering.

“It was highly unusual and most intriguing.”

“I see,” I lied, too caught in disbelief that Bigfoot would have done such a thing, but unable to doubt the Captain.

“Do not concern yourself overmuch. I normally make very sensible decisions.”

Was that intended to be comforting? It sounded like an insult. “Were you a criminal once?” I could see Avery packing her imaginary bags.

The Captain just looked an answer and got out. We had arrived.

He strode through the front gates and right up to the door. Without knocking, he opened the door and went inside the Woodcrafters Guild. It swung shut behind him.

What are you doing? Let’s get out of here!

The door reopened and an apprentice came out to get me, having been sent by the Captain on his way in. She rushed up to the carriage, clearly frazzled, saying “His Royal—er Lordliness would that you follow.” She stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again, “Miss, will you to please follow me?”

“Yes, of course,” I climbed out of the carriage and followed the girl, trying not to look like a walking funeral.

“—expected.”

“Do not involve yourself in matters which do not concern you,” Captain Winter spoke coolly, standing at the window with his back to the room.

Master Thorne sat in a large armchair, smoking a pipe and looking wise. “I am an old man with little to occupy my time. What is your excuse?” He was looking at the Captain, but in another moment he was sure to turn and see me in the doorway.

“If you are old, then I am ancient. As Captain of the Guard, it is my business to know all that happens in the city, and beyond it.”

“And this must be your assistant.” My heart stopped, but Thorne was still watching him.

Winter turned to face us both. “Yes. This is Miss Avery. She is my assistant.” His words seemed to resonate, alternating between loud and soft. “Miss Avery, this is Master Thorne. It may seem shocking, but three of the four Masters approved of his work, earning him that title.”

I tried to make sense of the situation and failed.

Turning to Thorne, the Captain said, “Miss Avery was once a woodcrafter’s apprentice, in the north near Essel.”

“Was she?” They looked at each other coolly. After a moment, Master Thorne turned to me, smiling charmingly, “It is lovely to see you, Miss Avery.” It was almost as alarming as the Captain’s earlier transformation.

The Master Thorne I knew was bearded, bald, and dressed like a wild man. I would have sworn in a court of law that he was at least eighty years and nearing senility. How else could such an old, ugly person look so admiringly at himself in the mirror?

The Thorne before me was a man out of a newspaper ad. His hair was full and fluffy, his face was clean, and all the wrinkles had magically disappeared. He looked young and strong. Only his eyes, those unforgettable ice blue eyes, made him no one but the man who had rescued me from the boredom Mother inflicted at home.

“I—Pleased to meet you,” I managed. Was the floor shaking, or was it me? I looked down but it was hard to tell.

“And do you tell her—everything?” Master Thorne asked the Captain. His expressions were different without the beard and wrinkles, but his eyes were the same.

I could almost breathe knowing that he was happy to see me.

“What I tell her is none of your concern,” the Captain’s voice was icy. Their conversation in the minute before my arrival had put him in a sour mood.

“I see,” Master Thorne was amused. “Well, I really do not know how to help you, seeing as nothing concerns me.”

“What I am concerned about is what you have told me, and what you have not told me.”

“I hardly know what I may say in your assistant’s hearing.” He smiled at me apologetically, as if to say that it was not his choosing. His eyes twinkled mischievously. I had forgotten how childish he could be.

‘I can leave,’ I offered somewhere in my head.

Definitely let’s leave. You may yet live.

“Anything you wish to say, she may hear,” The Captain said aloud, issuing a challenge rather than declaring trust.

“Is that so? Well, I really must say, I honestly think it best if you mar—”

“Anything pertaining to the present situation, Thorne.”

“I rather believe it does pertain.”

“I disagree,” the Captain’s voice dropped several degrees.

Completely unperturbed, Master Thorne said, “Why don’t you tell me what it is you wish me to tell you.” He smoked his pipe with cheerful eyes and a straight face.

“Miss Avery, close the door.”

Someone’s dead for sure. But it might not be you.

I took a heavy step through the entrance and turned around to pull the door closed. The heavy wooden door, I noticed, was designed to be sound proof, as was the wood paneling that covered the walls. Even the ceiling was paneled, and the floor was wood, all Charmed for silence. I was very focused on this, but I still felt the Captain’s glance and silent command to join them.

I sat in the open chair, between the two men. They gazed at each other across the empty hearth, supplying the fire all on their own.

“Tell us of the royal family. If I am not mistaken, you traveled north to Atelis in order to look after Prince Alaric’s wife and children after he died.”

I stared at Master Thorne, shocked.

Stop trying to die, Aevlin. Straighten those muscles.

I closed my mouth.

“I am sure you have not forgotten,” Master Thorne’s face was a drama about to happen, “my deep guilt and my desire to protect that family.”

“I do not want to hear it.”

“If that is your wish,” the curtains closed.

“I understand you became acquainted with that family,” the Captain encouraged him to continue with the subtlety of a hammer.

“I did.” Master Thorne relit his pipe. “The city I occasionally traded in was the largest in that region. It attracted all the locals at some time or another. There were not many people I did not meet, or at least see. House Saliz was no different. They went there during festivals, and on market days, to make purchases and sell produce and such. They lived as simple farmers, like any other country folk.”

“Yet you knew them for who they were.”

“Oh, not so. I quite lost track of them. But I kept going to the market in hopes I might find them again. One of the children—a little one of about eight or nine—came to my stall one day. I recognized the look of interest, of possibility, and made general inquiries after the family. I was fortunate enough to learn the location of their farm and took the liberty of visiting to ask if I might teach the child my craft, as my apprentice.”

The Captain looked at me.

“Imagine my surprise when Callily opened the door! Of course we recognized each other instantly, and she slammed the door in my face,” Thorne admitted cheerfully. “She was not interested in allowing her child to become my student.”

“That is no surprise.”

“I was persistent. Callily flatly refused every day for half a moon. In the end, she only allowed it when I promised on my very life that I would do everything and more to keep her daughter safe.”

He told a pretty story, but that was not how it had gone. Mother had laughed in his face and told us both that there was no way I could learn a demanding, painstaking craft like woodworking. She had not refused, but she had said that she expected me back in a moon, a failure.

“Daughter!” the Captain was genuinely shocked. “You always led me to believe that your apprentice was a boy.” He was too angry to not have been well and truly fooled. "And not a member of House Saliz."

“How strange, I do not recall that. Perhaps it was simply your perception that prevented you from understanding.”

“You referred to your student as ‘the farmboy’ in all your reports.”

He had been reporting on me?

“You misunderstood. Shall I tell my story, or not?”

“Please do.”

Both were annoyed and silent.

Master Thorne’s face relaxed first and he leaned back in his chair, readjusting his pipe. “The boy came to learn from me, and I quickly found that I had been correct.”

“I see my misunderstanding now.”

“But it was his sister could Charm wood, and learned at an amazing pace,” Master Thorne smiled proudly. “Still, regulation being what it is, I could not register her as a journeyman until her fifteenth birthday. And there was the matter of parental approval.” He started to look at me apologetically, caught himself and looked around the room. “I attempted to discuss the matter with Callily—as you know, a person’s birth must be registered in order for them to become an official craftsman.”

We were registered. Father had done it without her approval, and she had thrown him out of the house. He slept in the barn for three-fifths of a moon before she even acknowledged his existence again.

“They were, Callily admitted that fairly quickly. However, they were not registered in Essel.”

“Strange that the city would be Essel when you clearly said Atelis in your reports.” The Captain’s voice dripped with something like sarcasm. “Essel…I have heard of that city several times recently.”

I felt my heart shrivel up.

You’re dead. You’re doomed.

I drooped, letting my head rest on my hand, propped up by the chair’s upholstered arm.

“You must not have been listening, Captain,” Master Thorne smiled cheekily. “Prince Alaric registered his children as members of the House Saliz, here in Saliz. Whether it was a foolish fancy, or something deeper, I do not know. Callily did not wish for her children’s identities to be exposed.”

The Captain took several silent breaths before making any response. “All these years,” he muttered, before prompting Thorne to continue with the challenge, “Yet you still did it.”

Master Thorne looked at Captain Winter pityingly. “What is it about loyalty that you cannot grasp, I wonder? I made my promise. For all her ability, I had no intention of making her a journeyman. I understood the risks.”

He had always acted like I was too prone to accidents and poor-quality work, for all that other times my work was quite good. He had said I was too chaotic to ever make it to journeyman status.

“However,” he had waited until the Captain moved to speak, then cut him off. “Shortly before my student’s fifteenth birthday, her mother came to my house in the middle of the night in an agitated state. She came silently, and insisted that I speak to her away from the—from anywhere my student could hear.”

Away from the trees, I realized.

“She gave me the papers and asked how quickly it could be done. That was when I knew that they had been registered here, as members of the Royal Family. She said that she would send her daughter to Saliz after her birthday.”

Had Mother really done that?

Without the papers…

I could not have been registered. Mother would have had to have given them to him, and I had not seen or heard her do it.

“When I arrived in Saliz, I made a full report on the Royal Family and I registered my student.”

“Full,” the Captain nearly snorted. “You said, ‘They’re living peacefully as farmers in the middle of nowhere, near Atelis, with no pretense at royalty and no plans of ever leaving their charming homestead.’”

“Your memory is scary,” I spoke reflexively, feeling stuffy and needing to say something to ease the pressure. It did not help.

Master Thorne’s face was a picture of innocence. “They were living nowhere near Atelis.” To me, he said, “His assistant at the time had excellent penmanship. He wrote down everything.”

“Oh.”

“He probably never read any of it,” Master Thorne added, effectively canceling his first statement. He was just like I remembered, always giving misinformation to check my understanding.

No wonder I had adjusted to the Captain so quickly. Not just their methods of teaching, but also their personalities were similar.

“Reading his notes was a painful reminder of his inability to think for himself,” the Captain looked personally offended.

“Didn’t he leave and attempt to file a complaint against you after only two phases of a moon?”

“Three.”

“Was that the longest you had managed to keep an assistant?”

“Miss Avery has been my assistant for nearly a year.” He sounded proud, as though he had achieved something amazing.

Master Thorne looked at me curiously. It was the look that had followed every explosion and mysterious craft-fail. It said ‘How could this have happened? Please explain concisely, quickly, but from the beginning.’

“He recruited me from the dungeon.”

“Ah, coercement. That makes more sense,” Master Thorne nodded to himself and puffed away at his pipe, having chanced to remember it was there.

“Coercion. I thought you quit smoking.”

“It wasn’t worth it.”

“Vices are a dreadful thing to have.”

“So are fears,” Thorne’s eyes gleamed. “Tell me, how is Contessa Annalize..?”

“I hardly need stress the importance of the present situation,” Captain Winter changed the subject without blinking.

“As you will. What situation is that?” It was Thorne’s turn to look smug, knowing the Captain had been avoiding giving any information since we had arrived.

The Captain thought of a way around it. “It has been left too long. I need to know where they all are now, the royal family members. The truth, this time.”

“I have been keeping an eye on them, as I promised their father I would do.” He did not look at me, but I could feel his silent apology. “My student never came to claim her journeyman seal. As for the others—”

“You never said that your student was a royal.”

“Didn’t I?” Thorne puffed complacently. “You are not Captain of the Guard for nothing. Surely you were able to deduce it long before now?”

The Captain glared at him. “A full and honest report, Thorne.”

“My student Avery is—”

“Your student is Avery.”

“It was in the report.” Thorne started to look at me, caught himself partway and pretended to stretch his neck. “A few moons ago I returned to Essel to find out why Avery did not come to Saliz for her seal, and—”

“You returned to Essel to find out why your student did not come for her seal.”

“Yes, and imagine my dismay to learn of the obstacles that prevented her.”

“Your current expression is oddly accusatory.”

Master Thorne blinked several times.

“Master Thorne,” my voice brought all their attention on me and I hesitated. I let out a breath and it came out as a sigh. “Master Thorne, when you went back to visit—when you asked Mother why your student had not come, what did she say?”

“She thought it was strange. She said her daughter had left as planned and she expected her to have arrived in Saliz by the new year.” He studied my face. “Did something happen?” Remembering himself, he studied the Captain, and then the wall. “I wonder…”

“Yes, Master Thorne. We suspect,” I didn’t dare look at the Captain, but I felt his full attention, “that she may have…Captain, did you bring the file?”

Genius! Kiva will finally do us a favour!

His face was the question he didn’t bother to ask: ‘why would have I brought the file?’

“You did not bring the picture? Is that not why we are here?”

He looked at me thoughtfully, and I tried to remember what had prompted this visit. What mistake had I made? Wasn’t it pointing out that Thorne’s student might have been royal? Didn’t that lead him to realize that she could also be the Count’s bride?

“Aev—Miss Avery, was it? Such a common name. Could you explain to me what this file was about?”

“My memory is not like the Captain’s, but we recently received a request from the count of Essel desiring assistance in locating his missing wife. The details were curious enough to warrant investigation, and it has come to—our attention that someone in Saliz seems to expect to need strength in numbers and arms in the very near future. Given the existence of the royal family near Essel and the coincidence of your student and this count’s bride both being named Avery and apparently not being registered in Essel, I believe we wondered if you might be able identify the picture.”

Thorne looked at me, concern etched into his face where there used to be lines. “Have you eaten?”

“Does it show?” I felt my strength flee my limbs and slumped into the chair.

“I will send for breakfast, you send for this picture, and we will have our answers before the sun hits the orchard.” He winked. I barely registered his movement, but he was at the door when he turned to the Captain to say, “She seems promising. Much better than your last assistant.”

Congratulations. You have eight days left to live.

It was still my blood on the marriage certificate.

“Watch my expression and fix yours.” Avery stood before me and the life drained from her face.

But I could only see the Captain behind her. He sighed deeply. “It would have helped a great deal if I had known that the Avery that was his student was a girl. Or if I had considered it possible for Callily to allow her child to become Thorne’s student.”

Avery became a whispy puddle on the floor. “Ohhh. He always knew.”

I could not think of anything to say, and he did not speak again until Master Thorne returned with tea and muffins. “It is unlike you to not know the location of your student.”

“Is it?” The woodcrafter’s eyes twinkled and the Captain frowned slightly. “I believe in my student. She will come to me when she is ready.”

“You do not worry that she might not be able to.”

“I am worried. That’s why I’m standing still.”