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“It’s been wonderful,” Steff said, glancing over at his grandmother, whose stern face did not lighten at his words. She was displeased with Nelson’s sudden appearance at her court, Corene realized, which made Corene even happier that he had arrived. “I’ve learned so much—met so many amazing people—”

Nelson clapped him on the shoulder. “Will we ever be able to lure you back to Welce?”

Steff smiled. “Not for a long time, I think.”

Corene touched Nelson’s arm. “But really,” she insisted. “Why are you here?”

Filomara finally spoke up. “Yes—why and
how
are you here? My own ships have had trouble making it through the Berringese blockade.”

“Well, you know, when you have a navy at your back, you tend to get one of two responses,” Nelson said affably. “People either fire at you or they leave you alone. Turned out they decided to leave us alone.”

“Really? My officers haven’t reported any Welchin naval ships coming close enough to the harbor to engage with enemy vessels.”

Nelson smiled. His eyes were bright with deviltry; he was enjoying himself, Corene thought. “Maybe it was just their presence in deeper water that made the Berringese think twice about attacking us,” he said. Corene supposed he had come in through an illegal port and that that was why Filomara was so annoyed, but it seemed obvious he wasn’t going to admit it. Just to make
sure
she was annoyed. “But you should be happy I made it through! Since my ship captain was carrying cargo you had expressly ordered from Welce.”

Corene could see Filomara’s irritation war with her curiosity, but she didn’t have to unbend enough to ask what he meant. Steff did it for her. “What cargo?” he asked.

Nelson threw his hands wide. “A smoker car! Direct from Kayle Dochenza’s factory! I understand it’s being delivered to the palace later today.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Steff enthused. He turned to his grandmother. “You’ll like having an elaymotive. I can show you how to drive it.”

“Or I can,” Nelson said warmly. He glanced around as if trying to gauge how many spare bedrooms the palace offered. “If you want to put me up here, we can work in a lesson or two anytime you have a free moment.”

“I’m delighted that the elaymotive has arrived, but not even remotely interested in learning how to operate it,” Filomara said in a cold voice. “And naturally you must stay here. I’ll have Lorian find a suite for you close to Steffanolo and Princess Corene. Do you also need a room for your attendants?”

Nelson waved a hand. “Oh, I knew that Malinqua wasn’t much of a place for pomp, so I traveled alone,” he said. “Didn’t even bring a valet.”

“Or a guard?” Filomara asked with some disbelief. When she had visited the Chialto court, she had brought a hundred soldiers and refused to stay at the palace unless thirty were housed there with her.

“Well,” he said, still smiling, “there’s the navy.”

“Hardly within call, if trouble arises,” the empress pointed out.

He spread his hands. “Call me an optimist,” he said. “I’m not expecting trouble.”

Filomara glanced at Corene, then back at Nelson, clearly nonplussed. She’d expected the Welchin ships to show up, Corene realized, but she hadn’t planned for a high-ranking ambassador to slip through the cordon and land on her doorstep. She’d planned to do all her negotiating through a blockade, emphasizing the danger that Corene might be in if the navy didn’t come to her assistance. The fact that Nelson could arrive unescorted and unannounced took away one of her high trumps, but it also slipped a wildcard into her hand. Because now he was effectively a prisoner in her house as well—except he didn’t seem to regard himself that way. Which meant he might be planning another play that she couldn’t figure out how to counter.

It was giving Corene a headache just to try to think like Nelson and Filomara. So she decided to see what would happen if she set an explosion. “Well, there’s been plenty of trouble so far,” she said. “I don’t think you should move into the palace. If you’ve got a ship ready, I’ll leave with you this morning.”

That
caught Nelson’s attention. Steff protested and Filomara snapped, “Don’t be ridiculous.” But Nelson gave her a keen look and said, “If you’re in danger, let’s go now.”

“She’s not in danger,” Filomara said testily. “Things have been unsettled here, but the princess has never been at risk.”

“You can’t leave now,” Steff said. “The celebration is two days away! You have to be there!”

“Celebration?” Nelson repeated.

“A gala to formally mark Steffanolo’s appearance in Malinqua. We have been planning it since he arrived, and I expect it to be a most impressive event.”

Nelson raised his eyebrows at Corene. “I do like a party,” he said. “But it’s up to you.”

Truth be told, Corene hated to miss the event, so she was willing to stay. Anyway, mostly what she’d wanted to do was rile everyone up, and she’d succeeded at that.

“Yes—very well—we’ll stay for the gala,” she said, making her voice sullen. “But right after that? We can leave?”

“We’ll see,” said the empress.

“We’ll go,” said Nelson.

“Good,” Corene said. She slipped a hand under Nelson’s elbow and tugged him toward the door. “Let’s talk. I have so much to tell you!”

•   •   •

T
he day was chilly but clear, making a walk in the gardens pleasant once they stopped to put on heavier jackets. Corene wanted to show Nelson the maze, but he wouldn’t set foot in it. He found a spot in the middle of an herb garden where nothing grew higher than their knees and there was nowhere for an eavesdropper to hide. The two of them sat on an ornamental carved bench while Foley stood about twenty yards away, scanning all approaches.

“Now,” Nelson said, sounding much more serious, “what’s going on here?”

She gave him a succinct version of recent events while he listened closely, nodding from time to time. It was always so refreshing to talk to Nelson; he could follow the thread of a story, no matter how convoluted, and he never needed anything explained twice.

“Yes, I would say it’s time for you to leave Malinqua behind,” he said when she finished her recitation. “But is Steff safe to remain? Or should we kidnap him for his own safety?”

“Do you have the resources to kidnap him?” she countered. “You
appear
to have come empty-handed.”

He grinned. “I could probably arrange something.”

“I think Steff is smart enough to make up his own mind. And he stands to inherit wealth and property here, even if he isn’t named heir. He has good reasons to stay.”

“I’ll trust your judgment on this. We will leave him if he wants to be left.”

“So tell me your part in all this,” Corene said. “Why are you here?”

“Since the day you left, your father has been debating whether to send someone after you,” Nelson said.

Corene scowled. “He
has
?”

Nelson frowned her down. “Don’t get sulky on me. Of course he has. And of course he’s been watching you closely since you arrived.”

Corene sighed. Leah was only the most visible of Darien’s spies. He might have twenty more that she would never even know were nearby.

“When we got word of Berringese forces sailing into the harbor, he began to grow truly alarmed. That’s when he marshaled his own navy—”

“Which is
exactly
what the empress wanted him to do!”

Nelson nodded. “And then, since I was coming anyway, he asked me to play ambassador and get a true read of the situation if I could. And I must say,” he added, “the true situation is as convoluted as they come. Royal hostages, foreign wars, homegrown coups— It’s hard to sort it all out.”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Corene said. “I think there are at least two factions at work. I think Filomara came up with the idea of importing foreign brides for her nephews—and then, if necessary, keeping them as pawns to win military support from Cozique and Welce. But I think someone
else
is trying to control the succession by getting rid of rivals.”

“Who do you suspect?”

She shook her head. “Everyone at court could have a favorite.”

“Well, who is the person most likely to be named heir?”

She thought it over. “Generally speaking, I think everyone expects it to be Greggorio. He’s well liked and he looks the part—and good advisors could compensate for the fact that he’s not very smart.”

Nelson grinned appreciatively at the description, but just said, “So someone is trying to push him out of contention?”

She shook her head. “I think someone is trying to
keep
him in contention. Aravani and Subriella were the most likely heirs—until they died. Filomara’s brothers were the next likely heirs—until two of them died and two were banished. Garameno—but he was incapacitated. Jiramondi—” She considered. “I’m not sure anyone ever thought he was a viable candidate.”

“So, how does that explain the dead girl? The one thrown down the underground passage?”

“Someone didn’t want Greggorio distracted,” she explained. “Until he started flirting with Sarona, everyone assumed Greggorio would marry Liramelli.”

“The prefect’s daughter,” Nelson said, nodding. “An ideal pairing. So, Sarona would need to be eliminated to keep Greggorio free to marry Liramelli.”

“Alette had to be gotten rid of, too, for the same reason.”

Nelson gave her a keen look. “So who do you think is trying to shepherd Greggorio to the throne?”

Corene wrapped her arms around her shoulders and hugged herself against the chill. “The most obvious person would be the prefect or his wife,” she said. “Working together or independently.”

“What do you think of them as suspects?”

She shook her head. “I like Mariana a great deal—Harlo a little less so—but I don’t know either of them very well. And anyone whose family has survived at court for generations—” She shrugged.

“Is capable of playing a deep game,” Nelson finished. “Anyone else you favor for murder?”

She managed an unhappy smile. “If it’s not someone trying to put Greggorio on the throne, then I’d have to pick Garameno as the plotter,” she said. “He’s clever enough to plan a careful coup that takes years in the making. And he’s an excellent candidate for the throne—the oldest of his generation, and the smartest, too. But his injury makes him less appealing to most of the people who matter.”

“It also makes him less likely to be the killer if he was a victim of the killer’s machinations,” Nelson pointed out.

“True. Unless the accident was really just an accident. And he was so enraged by the cruelty of fate that he decided to eliminate all his rivals.”

“So if Garameno is cold-bloodedly murdering anyone higher in the lists than he is— How did he react to Steff’s appearance at court?”

“Of the three nephews, Garameno has been the least welcoming and Jiramondi has been the most,” she said, “but
none
of them were pleased to see Steff.”

“Which brings me back to my earlier point, but with a little more urgency,” said Nelson. “It’s not safe for Steff to stay.”

She nodded. “I know. And yet—I don’t know that he’s in real
danger unless he’s named Filomara’s heir, and I think that’s unlikely to happen.” When Nelson looked skeptical, she said, “He’s a stranger. He knows nothing about the people or the country. If someone had sailed into Welce last year and proved to be Vernon’s grandson, would the primes have blithely turned the country over to him to govern?”

Nelson shook his head. “Obviously not. But we might have been willing to marry off this mythical offspring to you or Josetta in order to combine
his
bloodline with
your
deep knowledge of the culture. If I were backing Steff as a candidate, that’s exactly what I’d do—find him a bride among the high-ranking nobility. The prefect’s daughter, for instance.”

Corene nodded. “If that’s the case—if whoever is running this grand scheme is doing it on behalf of Liramelli—then Steff is actually safer than anyone.”

“Which brings us right back to the prefect and his wife.”

Corene nodded again. “Or other politicians who support Harlo. There are dozens of factions among the nobles and I honestly don’t know the players well enough to guess who might be capable of pulling off something this big.”

“Layers and layers,” Nelson agreed. “There always are. Well, it’s a puzzle, sure enough, and a fascinating one. But once you leave—” He shrugged.
Not your problem anymore.

“Do you really think you can get me out of here? Filomara seemed pretty certain you’re just as trapped as I am.”

“I have more resources at my back,” he drawled. “And systems in place that will trip an alarm if I do not make certain appearances every day. Filomara can’t afford a war on
two
fronts. She wanted the Welchin navy here to support her, not to attack her. She’ll let us go. Once I have concluded my business—”

That reminded her of something he’d mentioned at the very beginning of the conversation. “Wait—you said you were coming to Malinqua anyway. Why?”

“One of those amazing coincidences. I happened to be with Kayle Dochenza when he was approached by a remarkable woman—a sea captain, it turns out, the most robust and redoubtable creature. She wanted him to verify the identify of a woman she’d met in Malinqua, who claimed to be a friend of Kayle’s.”

“Leah,” Corene guessed. “She’s a spy for my father.”

“Leah, indeed. Kayle read the letter she produced, told the captain, ‘Yes, she’s exactly who she says she is,’ and then handed the paper to me.”

“Why?”

“Because he knew I’ve been looking for Leah for five years.”

“What?
Why?
”

“Because that’s how long ago she ran away.”

Corene shouldn’t have been so surprised. It had always been clear that Leah was gently bred—she might be working as a shopgirl and spy in Malinqua, but she moved and spoke like a woman of noble birth. And if Darien had known her before she turned to espionage, it made sense that Nelson did as well. In fact, Nelson had probably sought Leah out even before he came to the palace.
That
was what Leah had wanted to tell her, Corene guessed—that the sweela prime had arrived in Malinqua and was ready to upend all their lives. “Why did she run away? How well did you know her?” She appraised him frowningly. All the sweela men—the Ardelays in particular—were notorious for their flirtations and affairs, but Leah was barely half Nelson’s age.