“Getting us out of here.” When Cressien gives him a nonplussed look, Eugene snaps, “To look forwhite shells, I guess? Why else?”
“We are so far beyond white shells I’m going to die happy if I never hear of them again. Where is the princess?”
“With Verette. I’ll get her and meet you in the guest wing.” Eugene takes off before Cressien can protest and weaves through the chaos after them as fast as he can. He makes it into the hall just in time to see Rapunzel’s purple skirts fluttering around a distant corner. The palace is flooded with frantic guests rushing away from the ballroom and guards trying to push through toward it, so by the time Eugene reaches that corner, Verette and Rapunzel are even farther ahead, hurrying under a grand archway Eugene recognizes from two nights ago—the entrance to the royal wing.
Even though he runs as fast as he can, they’re already out of sight when he enters the wing. Luckily, the guards also seem to have been summoned from their posts, so no one’s there to question him as he trots down one corridor, then another. The furnishings are getting more lavish, so he’s close to the royal living quarters, but there’s no sign of either princess.
He’s perilously close to shoutingCerulean and cobalt are the same blueso he can find Rapunzel by her outraged yelling—and then footsteps echo down the hall. Not the skip-shuffle ofslippers, but the heavy slap of boots, moving fast and getting close. Eugene swiftly ducks through the nearest door and shuts it behind him.
When he looks up, he sees moonlight streaming through a wall of windows…and landing on a desk inlaid with the royal seal in gold.
Eugene holds his breath as the footsteps pass, and takes a better look at the room. It’s hard to make out much by the full moon, but he can see the furniture is ornate, richly made, worthy of a king. A portrait of Enver hangs on the far wall, directly across from the desk, near bookcases stuffed with excruciatingly boring-looking books on topics like Asteran law and political theory. The desk itself sports only an ink and quill stand and an unlit candle that looks like it’s got one last late night left.
This has to be the king’s personal study.
And that means Eugene has a chance he almost certainly will not have again.
Rapunzel’s with Verette, and the guards are too distracted to bring her in for questioning. A few minutes should be fine.
Eugene has been in many wealthy peoples’ homes, usually for illegal reasons, and almost always in pursuit of things they tried to keep locked down. If Enver is hiding something, and there’s any kind of paperwork to that effect, it’ll be somewhere out of the way of a servant casually cleaning the study, and inaccessible to someone casually snooping.
But a paranoid man like Enver? He’ll keep his secrets close.
Eugene eyeballs the bookshelves; too open, too easy. A compartment behind Enver’s portrait would be too much of a pain to get to. The desk, however…
The golden inlay flashes in the moonlight as Eugene closes in. The desk has drawers on either side of the chair well, and he’s not surprised to see keyholes on the top two, nor to find those drawers locked. The thing is, he’scertainthose aren’t worth his time, because no one becomes as powerful as Enver by keeping their secrets somewhere so obvious.
Instead Eugene yanks open the other drawers, prodding for panels at the back or bottom. No dice. Thereisa noticeable heft to the desktop itself, just thick enough to raise Eugene’s suspicion. He quietly knocks on the underside of the panel, tapping in circles until there’s a hollow thud.
There’s a compartment. Now to get to it.
The release mechanism can’t be too conspicuous,ortoo inconvenient. Eugene studies the desktop, checks under the inkpot and candle…then sees a faint gleam on the inlay. The western star has been worn a little more than the others, polished by regular contact.
Eugene jabs a finger into it. He hears a click, then aclunk. A panel in the desktop sinks and slides back to reveal a velvet-lined box containing four pieces of parchment, each of their wax seals broken.
Three are addressed to Rapunzel’s parents and bear Cressien’s insignia as the minister of diplomatic affairs. Enver has been intercepting Cressien’s reports, every single one.
The last letter is addressed to Rapunzel. And the remains of the seal belong to her mother.
Eugene stuffs the messages into his doublet and starts to return the panel, then pauses. At this point he’s fairly confident tonight ends with them being smuggled onto the royal galleon to make a swift getaway, but on the slim chance he’s wrong, they need a scapegoat for when Enver discovers the messages missing.
The first idea to come to mind feels…oddly appropriate.
Eugene pulls a scrap of blank parchment from one of the other drawers, then uses the quill and ink to scribble a tiny, crude dagger.
The parchment goes in the compartment, the panel goes back into its place in the desktop, and Eugene goes straight for the door, waiting only to listen for voices or footsteps before heading back into the corridor.
But this time, when he rounds a corner into a long hallway, he finds Councilor Erwan Persevault pacing toward him from the opposite end. Persevault’s face turns stormy. He breaks into a run, shouting, “You!Andreas’s boy! I saw you!”
Eugene backs up, hands raised. Escaping by sea will be alotharder if he can’t get the master of Astera’s armada off his case. “What? I’m just looking for Rapunzel—”
“Don’t lie to me,” the councilor snarls. “I saw your little stunt with the champagne! You started this whole mess!”
“Are we sure?” Eugene falters. “It might not have been champagne. It doesn’t count if it’s not from the region—”
“It was a misunderstanding.” Hughes’s voice cuts down the hall as he strides up behind Eugene and clamps one bony hand around his shoulder. “Her Highness asked young Fitzherbert here to show her how to saber a bottle of champagne, and the boy was confused. You know how hard it is to hear in a ballroom. Now please excuse us—the princesses are very eager to make sure he’s unhurt.”
Before Erwan or Eugene can object, Hughes pushes him onward. Eugene does wait until Erwan is out of earshot to mutter, “I appreciate the save, but if you’re taking me to Moon Eye, I’d rather just take my chances jumping out the window, thanks.”
