Alydia didn’t go to watch Bastyen’s arrival. She’d be seeing plenty of him in the future. And it would only look weak. They would be officially introduced at the ball, night after tomorrow, and that was more than soon enough.

Instead she was in her suite, at the huge display table that filled most of her side-room, looking at maps of the palace.

The Aravene palace was huge and it was ancient. And it had been failing for generations. Everything in the central spire still worked—mostly—but the thirteen spokes had been one-by-one abandoned and cannibalized for parts. Three wings—the star, the sword, and the eye were still habitable, but the rest had been closed off and ignored—some of them for centuries.

Every child growing up in the palace, no matter what their background or status, snuck out at least once to explore the abandoned wings. For the thrill, of course. The joy of creeping through the dark, crumbling spaces. But it wasn’t just exploration and adventure, it was a treasure hunt. Lost sparks were worth a fortune. Every kid fantasized about finding a buried stash, of becoming a hero.

Alydia and her siblings had been no different. They’d snuck out late at night, indulgent Red Guard following at a distance, hiding their smiles as the children swore them to secrecy. At first it had been just Lorrel on his own or with Jonnah tagging along. Alydia had listened to his stories and begged to come with him. And on the night of the twins’ tenth birthday, Lorrel and Jonnah had woken her and Guelida up and declared it was time for their first trip to the lost halls of the palace.

Lorrel had seen the explorations as a child’s game, and was bored with them not long after he’d decided the twins were old enough to join him. What Alydia had seen was a whole secret world that no one alive knew the whole of.

The game had turned into a passion. Alydia had never stopped exploring. She’d dug up maps, histories, journals, any record she could find to help her piece together the remains of the past. She’d interviewed people about their past lives. She’d spent hours in meditation, trying to awaken memories of her own.

She’d uncovered secrets and hoarded them, sharing only with those she could trust. Guelida, of course. Jonnah. Genoff and Zairr—which meant the whole of Chandra’s Guard knew, but none of them would betray a confidence. All the while assembling a model of the palace more extensive and detailed than even the engineers had.

This was something else Alydia was about to lose. Her upcoming marriage and move to Kardenel meant leaving behind not just her friends and family, but also her life’s work.

A knock on the door was Guelida. Anyone else would have touched Alydia’s mind. Alydia was the only one who knew Guelida’s secret, but Guelida kept mind-silent even with her. A knock meant Guelida was alone, without any of the Guard to talk for her.

Alydia opened the door. Guelida had changed out of uniform into a simple loose blouse and pair of soft, comfortable pants. She was barefoot and carried a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Does this mean you’re free?” Alydia asked, stepping aside to let Guelida in.

“Bastyen and his retinue are settled in the sword wing with both soldiers and blues posted at every entrance and exit. No one is getting formally presented to anyone until the ball. Anison is—believe it or not—so tired he said he wasn’t meeting with anyone until tomorrow. And mother is busy figuring out the logistics of bringing father to the party. So, yes, it would seem I’m free.” She followed Alydia back to the table and asked, “What are you working on?”

“Adding cracks we found after that last earthquake to the map.”

The earthquakes had first started when Alydia and Guelida were teenagers. Hard to pinpoint an exact date. They’d started soft and ramped up over time. Barely noticeable at first, then growing in strength until they were unmistakable.

It turned out, there was a fault line that ran deep under the palace. A line that had been held stable for thousands upon thousands of years, part of the unfathomable technology that the ancients had built. But like everything else in the palace, that technology was faltering. Once it failed completely, there was no telling the devastation they’d face. The whole palace could come down.

But the earthquakes had brought opportunities as well as danger.

Guelida leaned in over the table. “Bring up the map of the central sublevels.”

This was their secret. The sealed underground as extensive as the palace itself. Hidden away for untold millennia until the earthquakes had opened unknown passageways and Guelida’s visions had directed Alydia to them.

Alydia dragged maps around the screen, scrolling through screens until she found the one she wanted. “This one?”

“Let me look.” Guelida studied the map, then pointed at a corner they had nothing but a rough sketch of. “Over here, I think. That’s what she showed me. Something interesting. Or at least she thinks it’s interesting. She seemed very excited.”

Unlike their father and Elinas, Guelida only had the one ghost that haunted her. Which led to the sense that she had something of a relationship with the dead woman. Alydia found that odd, but it was probably easier that way. If you had someone invading your thoughts, your senses, your dreams, better to feel like the two of you got along.

“Maybe tomorrow we can sneak away,” Alydia said, studying the area Guelida had indicated. “You and me, Zairr and Gene and Jonnah.”

As if his name had summoned him, Genoff’s mind brushed against Alydia in a gentle knock. Rather than words, Alydia had the sudden image of a group of people down in Genoff’s rooms. “Speaking of,” Alydia said out loud, “Genoff says people are hanging out down at his place. If you want to go.”

“Do you?” Guelida asked pointedly.

No secrets between them, and partially that was because Guelida knew her too well for Alydia to hide anything for long. “It’s fine. I’m not mad at him. Not really.”

Guelida waited in clearly disbelieving silence.

It was hard to talk about. Not just because she was frustrated and hurt. But because it was hard. It was complicated. And that was yet another way in which Alydia felt like she lived on the outside of things, different from everyone else.

Everywhere Alydia looked, everyone she knew moved from relationship to relationship in this effortless dance. Crown Prince Lorrel’s bed was never empty. The Red Guardsfolk who Alydia had grown up with were every bit as popular as you’d expect the young, good-looking, best-of-the-best soldiers to be. Her peers at court, other soldiers, everyone around her seemed to be having a grand time playing a game with rules Alydia had never understood.

In this, at least, Guelida was the one person who could relate. It was complicated for her, too. The shields she held so tightly against the loss of her sanity did more than just keep people out of her mind. The secret she shared with no one but Alydia was yet another barrier between Guelida and anyone who would get close to her. To her, alone, Alydia could talk about this.

“It’s supposed to be easy,” Alydia said, hearing how petulant she sounded as the words came out of her mouth. “It used to be easy. That’s Genoff, you know? There when I wanted him. Capable of entertaining himself when I didn’t. And he loves me, and that’s always been okay, because it’s never been a problem.”

Guelida nodded. That much, she knew as well as Alydia did.

“It’s just that since the mindshare, he’s been different. And I hate it. Because everything else is…” she waved her hand, and Guelida nodded, understanding. “And he’s the thing I shouldn’t have to worry about. But now it’s not’s easy anymore. Which means nothing is easy. And unfair or not, I keep wanting to blame him for that.”

“So we could stay up here. I don’t mind.”

“No.” Alydia gave a frustrated exhale. “No, let’s go. I still want to grab whatever time I can with him before I have to…” That was another sentence she didn’t have to finish. Guelida understood. “How pathetic is that?”

Guelida didn’t answer, just put her arm around Alydia’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “Come on, then. Let’s go.”