He lets my question hang in the air. The answer is obvious—so I could retrace my steps. So he might accidentally show me something he wouldn’t show someone else. So that he would be incautious.
I really need to stop asking stupid questions.
And maybe he really needs to be less paranoid, since Dain put a geas on me so I can’t tell anyone no matter what.
The Roach opens the door, and light floods the hallway, causing me to throw my arm up in front of my face. Blinking, I look into the secret lair of Prince Dain’s spies. It’s packed earth on all four sides, with walls that curve inward and a rounded ceiling. A large table dominates the room, and sitting at it are two faeries I’ve never met—both of them gazing at me unhappily.
“Welcome,” says the Roach, “to the Court of Shadows.”
The two other members of Dain’s spy troupe also have code names. There’s the lean, handsome faerie that looks at least part human, who winks and tells me to call him the Ghost. He has sandy-colored hair, which is normal for a mortal but is unusual for a faerie, and ears that come to very subtle points.
The other is a tiny, delicate girl, her skin the dappled brown of a doe, her hair a cloud of white around her head, and a miniature pair of blue-gray butterfly wings on her back. She’s got at least some pixie in her, if not some imp.
I recognize her now from the High King’s full moon revel. She’s the one who stole a belt from an ogre, weapons and pouches attached.
“I’m the Bomb,” she says. “I like blowing things up.”
I nod. It’s the kind of blunt thing I don’t expect faeries to say, but I am used to being around Court faeries with their baroque etiquette. I am not used to the solitary fey. I am at a loss as to how to speak with them. “So is it just the three of you?”
“Four now,” says the Roach. “We make sure Prince Dain stays alive and well informed about the doings of the Court. We steal, sneak, and deceive to secure his coronation. And when he is king, we will steal, sneak, and deceive to make sure he stays on the throne.”
I nod. After seeing what Balekin is like, I want Dain on the throne more than ever. Madoc will be by his side, and if I can make myself useful enough, maybe they’ll get the rest of the Gentry off my back.
“You can do two things the rest of us can’t,” the Roach says. “One, you can blend in with the human servants. Two, you can move among the Gentry. We’re going to teach you some other tricks. So until you get another mission directly from the prince, your job is what I say it is.”
I nod. I expected something like that. “I can’t always get away. I skipped classes today, but I can’t do that all the time or someone will notice and ask where I’ve been. And Madoc expects me to have dinner with him and Oriana and the rest of the family around midnight.”
The Roach looks over at the Ghost and shrugs. “This is always the problem with infiltrating the Court. Lots of etiquette taking up time. When can you get away?”
“I could sneak out after I’m supposed to be in bed,” I tell them.
“Good enough,” the Roach says. “One of us will meet you near the house and either train you or give you assignments. You need not always come here, to the nest.” The Ghost nods, as though my problems are reasonable, part of the job, but I feel childish. They are a child’s problems.
“So let’s initiate her,” the Bomb says, walking up to me.
I catch my breath. Whatever happens next, I can endure it. I have endured more than they can guess.
But the Bomb only starts laughing, and the Roach gives her a playful shove.