Surprisingly, Ress was waiting for Maize when she returned to her room.

And unlike Maize, he looked like he had the best night's sleep of his life.

"And where were you?" he asked as he rose from the cushioned chair in the room's small sitting area.

"Not sleeping with my former best friend," she informed him as she closed the door tight behind her.

His eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Because I heard you all the way up here?"

His jaw dropped and Maize couldn't hold back her laughter.

"Calm down. I went looking for you last night and happened to be lucky enough to come across you mounting Cade in your quarters. You really need to make sure your door is latched before you start your romps, otherwise I would have just walked by thinking you were just another servant getting in their nightly tryst.

"You stayed to watch?"

"Only for a minute. If I didn't already know your history I would have invited myself in."

Ress unceremoniously collapsed back on the chair. "Oh gods, Maize, what have I done?"

"Other than fuck Cade?" she asked as she moved to her armoire, looking for something to wear that would be comfortable enough to get her through a day of sleep-deprived court life.

"He came to me!"

"You could have said no."

"He was very insistent."

"All the more reason."

"He said he missed me."

"I'm sure the years of guilt have worn on him."

"And he said he was sorry."

She paused. "You heard him out?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder back at him.

Ress nodded. "Every last word."

"And you believed him."

"I wouldn't have brought him to bed if I didn't."

She sighed, deciding on a simple green velvet dress with a scooped ned and long sleeves. Maize would have been nothing short of a hypocrite if she challenged him further. "Then who am I to question your judgment."

"You're plenty."

She turned to face him, and he was watching her intently. "Just please don't do anything that will compromise this mission."

"Have I ever?"

"No. Usually, it's me who's the cause for concern, but with Cade now in the mix, there are going to be even more people who don't need to know why we're really here."

"Says the one who seems to have the Prince's full and undivided attention."

Maize pursed her lips as her cheeks reddened.

Ress raised his brows while watching her. "Where were you last night anyway?"

"Not fucking my former best friend."

"Yes, we've been over that. And I'll make it up to you, I assure you. But you said you came to look for me, and then left when you figured out what was going on... but you didn't come back here. Where were you?"

"How do you know I didn't come back here?"

"Because once Cade left to return to his wife, I came here looking for you."

"For a second round?"

"You tell you how stupid of a thing I had just done."

"I could have been indisposed."

"I've been here since."

"... oh."

Ress leaned back in his chair, legs crossed and hands steepled before him. "You were with Laris."

"I'm taking a bath," she said, completely deflecting the assumption and knowing well it wouldn't stop him from continuing.

It didn't.

"So did you run to him or did he come find you?" he called from the main room.

"Neither." She turned the tub water on to scalding- the hotter the water the more apt she was to remain awake during her bath.

"Was he any good?"

She gritted her teeth as she added the lavender-scented bath salts. "At dancing."

"Maize..."

She ignored him as she disrobed, stepping into the bath as soon as the water was high enough to submerge her.

Ress remained quiet, and for a moment she believed he had left until he appeared and leaned in the door of the bathing room. "You do remember why we're here, right?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?"

"That's fair." He nodded.

Groaning, Maize settled deeper into the hot water. "I don't trust Forge. And neither does Laris. And I think if we continue along this path he could become a valuable ally."

"He's still a member of the Royal family, and we're still trying to steal one of his dead mother's most prized possessions. I think you need to tread lightly or one misstep is going to end us up in the dungeon or worse."

"I would take worse. But again, if we can get Laris on our side, should worse come to worse, he could pardon us?"

"It might take more than a nighttime dance to convince him of that."

"I'm working on it."

"Is that your plan for the day?"

"Actually... yes."

He arched a brow.

"I'm going to start my research into the Legacy," she continued. "There's too much in that library that there's got to be something there."

"That's assuming Forge hasn't already looked through it all."

"I think it would be too obvious... what would a lesser advisor need with books?"

"To read them?"

"Why, when they can just hire people like us to read them for him?"

"Fine, you have a point."

"Thank you."

"Then while you're getting lost in literature, I'll see what I can find out about getting you more herbs. It'll be easier for me to move about the castle- and beyond it, if need be."

The herbs... Maize had completely forgotten about the nightmare she had, or what had happened at the ball before she lost sight of him, and that her initial intent was to tell Ress she had had one. Only once she remembered did her temples begin to throb, and she had to close her eyes to the pain.

"How has it been?" He asked, concern lacing his tone.

Truths and lies...

"Fine."

"Any nightmares?"

Lies and truths.

"No."

Ress frowned. "I'm still going to make sure you have enough to last you the remainder of your time here."

"Our time here."

"True, but Forge is putting me to work. As if he's trying to keep me away from you like I'm a distraction. Good luck him trying to make the Prince stay away."

"I'm not distracted."

"Yet."

She couldn't argue that. Laris had the uncanny ability to keep her occupied. Too much time with him and it would be Remembrance Day before they knew it.

"Remind me again of what's to be expected of me on a courtier level now that we're here?"

"Other than seducing the prince?"

She splashed a handful of water in his general direction. It missed, naturally, and he chuckled as he dodged out of the way anyway.

"Remembrance Day is the final event. The king will display all of Lusciana's remaining belongings like a museum exhibit. The attending lords and diplomats will make their way through feigning awe before they finally depart back to wherever they came from."

"And we'll already be on our way back to the Den before the break of dawn."

"If we are lucky."

"So what else?"

Ress shifted as he seemed to get comfortable for a longer-than-intended conversation. "There was the welcoming ball that we had last night, where the King personally greets everyone and thanks them for wasting their time to visit him for a torturous two weeks."

"Honestly, I didn't see much of the king yesterday, anyway."

"It seemed having this year's ball be in Laris' honor, he deigned to allow his son to hold court instead." He ran a hand over his stubbled chin. "Next we can expect the Wild Hunt, where one representative from each household attends the day-long hunting expedition to see who can kill the largest beast for no more than boasting rights and to hear their name announced personally by the king himself."

"I'll be more than happy to pass on that."

"You may not have a choice. It's been a male-dominated event since it began."

"Well, now I almost want to go."

"As much as I won't hold you back, it could also be the ideal time to search further for the Legacy while so many are away. Because the day after the hunt and its subsequent banquet, there's the royal tournament where once again, many of the families will attend to vie for honor and glory and the King's attention over yet another feast."

"And let me guess- this is yet again another male-dominated event?"

"You'd think so but not generally. The families also use Remembrance Day to solidify marriage agreements and business transactions. Sons of Lords over-perform for anyone whose favor they want to win."

"And with the Prince present this year, you believe more women will participate to gain his attention?"

"Men and women alike."

"Are you going to tell me I should stay behind and continue my research for that too?"

"Not on your life- but Forge may."

"All the more reason for me to be there then." She grinned. "And then what happens after I take all the glory for myself?"

"All that's left is the private production of The Spectre's Vow."

"Why that one? It's so boring."

"Because apparently it was Lusciana's favorite and the king felt it was the best way to remember her."

"Other than displaying all her personal belonging for everyone to see?"

"This harkens back to her love of the arts. Apparently, this was the one show Lusciana would take Laris to every year, but the King would never join them."

"Not exactly the finest example of family life."

"No, but the players would practice for the opportunity to perform for her, and even still, when the king hires the troupe every year, there's a competition about who can bring the best performance in Lusciana's memory."

"So there's The Spectre's Vow and then Remembrance Day?"

"There's the play, one more banquet, and then one more day in between to allow the king time to properly mourn and reflect his departed wife."

"While the rest of Dreduor starves, the king is hosting and feeding everyone else for weeks. No wonder the people hate him."

"Speaking of the rest of Dreduor, have you written to Celese since we've been here?"

"Shit," Maize hissed as she quickly stood from the tub, dripping water on the floor as she reached for a nearby towel and quickly wrapped it around her naked body. With everything else going on, she had forgotten the ruse she told to allow them time to be there in the first place.

Lies and truths.

"What was the name of your dying aunt again?" she asked as she walked back into the main room, sweeping aside the duvet she had laid over her trunk before unlocking it and rummaging through it.

"You tell me, you're the one who came up with the story."

Pulling out a small stash of her personal stationery, pens, and seal, she spread them out on the bed before she unwrapped the towel from her body and began drying her hair. "Was it Clara? Laura?"

"Clora?"

"That's it!" she exclaimed, almost too excitedly, as she tossed the towel aside and climbed back on the bed.

"You're really going to write this now. Like that."

"I see nothing wrong with this," she muttered as she grabbed a pen and began writing an elaborate letter to the Denmother about their journey to...

"Where are you from again?"

Sighing, Ress sat on the end of the bed. "Seren."

"Right! Should we mentioned Cade? I'm sure Celese would love those details. Would make it so much more believable..."

"Despite the fact that Alynthi is on the other side of the world."

"Then you best get as much out of Cade while you still can."

"Is that an order from my Lady?"

She stopped writing and glanced up at him. "If I was going to give you an order, it would be to stop sitting there staring at me while you're fully clothed and start servicing me like the good footman you are."

That got a smirk out of him and he slowly stood from the bed, keeping his attention on her while he began to unbuckle his pants.

Anticipation twisted Maize's insides as she tried to return her attention to the letter she was drafting for Celese. "Should we give her a timeframe now, or wait until the next letter when we tell her your aunt actually died?"

"I don't care," he said hoarsely as Maize heard the sound of leather sliding over skin. Her toes curled as she focused on penning each letter.

"What about what actually killed your aunt?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Ress breathed as he returned to the bed, kneeling behind her not unlike she caught him with Cade the night before.

The memory made her core heat.

And the feeling of his hands on her hips, of him pressing against her, had her forgetting about writing the damn letter altogether.