There’s a look in her eyes that Eugene recognizes. It doesn’t show up often, but he pays attention when it does, because the first time he encountered it, Rapunzel was threatening him with ten pounds of cast iron and a likely concussion.Sometimes he thinks people focus more on the tower, and less on the fact that Rapunzel spent eighteen years playing chess against herself.
“Right,” she agrees, “so why don’t we use that?”
Minister Cressien frowns. “I don’t follow.”
Rapunzel’s chin lifts. “They expect me to be completely naïve, don’t they? So they won’t bother trying to hide what they want from us in front of me.”
Eugene’s belly flops as the queen steeples her fingers, considering. Rapunzel’s right—it’s risky, but she’s right.
And the moment her ship clears the horizon, he has no doubt he’ll be kindly and firmly escorted out the back door.
“I could go with,” Eugene volunteers quickly. “So you’re not on your own.”
Two more weeks; one more adventure with her. Then maybe, once he’s asked to go, he’ll be ready.
“I would consideralternativecourses of action, Your Majesty.” Cressien looks like he’s barely repressing a lip curl.
“But Eugene’s more…unorthodox skills could be quite useful, I think,” the queen muses.
Right.That clinches it. Pardon or no, this is how they’re always going to see him. Eugene forces a laugh. “Ah, yes. I can spy, steal state secrets, keep an eye out for any traps, you know. Rogue things.”
“That’s not all.” To his dismay, Rapunzel is picking upThe Tales of Flynnigan Riderfrom the couch and handing it to her mother. “Eugene’s favorite book is about a man from Astera. He might actually know more about the customs than we do.”
As the queen flips the pages, Eugene’s face burns. “Well,” he blusters, “maybe…it’s just a kids’ book, and the author could have made it all up.”
The queen’s hands go still. “Cressien…do you have the invitation with you?” When he passes the envelope over, she flips it and lays it against the book’s first page, then turns it around to show them what caught her eye.
There’s an old mark embossed into the inside of the front cover, one he always assumed to be simply ornamental: a crown surrounded by four stars, like the points of a compass rose.
The same symbol that’s pressed into the envelope’s wax seal.
The seal of the king.
“How did you get this book, Eugene?” the queen asks.
Sometimes you can hear the asterisk attached to a question. This asterisk’s annotation reads,Do we need to draft an extradition treaty?
“The orphanage,” he answers, bewildered. “It was just—always there.”
To his surprise, the queen shuts it and hands it back to him. “You may just be an accidental expert after all.” She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head at Rapunzel. “I appreciate your initiative, dear, but it’s not worth the risk. We’ll decline and say it’s just too soon.”
“And since they won’t believe it, I will handle the aftermath,” Cressien says stonily.
“But—” Rapunzel’s hands ball into fists. “But I made this problem. I should help fix it.”
Her mother squeezes her shoulder. “Believe me, there will be plenty of opportunities to help in the future. For now, let us deal with it. And if this Teophine tries to seek you out directly, tell her I summoned you, and come straight to me.”
It’s the tone Eugene’s heard a thousand times from mothers sending their children down to the market with a very short list and exact change. From the look on Rapunzel’s face, she has no idea how to parse it.
“Okay,” she says, almost confused. “If that’s what you want.”
“Everything will be fine,” the queen tells Rapunzel with one final squeeze.
As she and Cressien leave, he flipsThe Tales of Flynnigan Rideropen once more and studies the seal. Now that he thinks about it, the orphanage had a bookshelf…and this book was never on it. Even when he left it in another room, somehow he would always find it later on the foot of his bed, or under his pillow, or resting on the crate he used for a nightstand.
And for a book that was alwaysthere, it’s even stranger that he’s never come across another copy.
Howdidhe get this one?
