When I turned three, my household of servants increased. I gained a tutor. I had noted that the three and four year olds spent more time closeted in their rooms. This was why.

  Technically she was a shared tutor, she spent an hour or two a day with two other children on the hall.

  Tutor Trina entered my room without knocking the first time we met.

  “Mia!” I said, racing towards my escape route. Every crèche room had one. Lara and Sir Amelia drilled me on stranger danger protocols daily. I loved sliding down the little escape chute.

  “Oh for goodness sake.” Tutor Trina said exasperated. “Stop her.”

  I was already to the chute and starting down.

  “I’ll go get her.” I heard Lara say as I rounded the first corner of the spiral slide.

  I waited obediently in the comfortable little locked room. I did know how to open the door from the inside.

  Coincidentally, my actual escape plan if evacuation was called for real was down the servant stairs with Lara. We had a set of downstairs clothes set aside and I was going to pose as her son. The plan included a haircut.

  You see, all of the imperial children grew up in these rooms with these escape rooms. If the enemy was one of the other imperial children during the succession war they would already know the location and intricacies of the escape system.

  Luckily, the emperor was in good health and quite young, only mid thirties.

  “Do I have to apologize?”

  “What for?” Lara teased lightly as she picked me up and cuddled me. “A stranger entered your room and shouted ‘stop her.’ You did exactly as you ought to have done. Good job.”

  I cuddled back. “Who is she?”

  “Your tutor. Come, we can’t tarry, do not reveal yourself to her.” She was already dashing up the stairs and could be heard soon.

  When we got back to the room, which didn’t take very long, the tutor was directing servants on placing a tiny student desk and a large pile of slightly ratty books. Used books. Books used by other recent students in the crèche.

  Lara set me down.

  “Now then my little truant student, sit down.” She pointed at the tiny school chair. I sat. “I am Tutor Trina. I currently tutor both princes who reside here and have indeed tutored eight of the fourteen imperial princes and princesses. I am good at what I do.”

  By the way she was speaking I doubted that. She sounded boastful. She stood erect, making no effort to get on my level or even look me in the eye.

  “We will cover the basics. Colors, shapes, numbers, letters and the basic rules of society. For example that you should never run away from your tutor.”

  “If-“

  “Ah ah ah. Children should be seen and not heard. Only speak when asked a question.”

  “That’s unrealistic for a toddler.” I muttered in English.

  “Now.”

  Another servant knocked on the open door and brought in a box.

  “Good, Wendaline, you know where I want the banners and so forth. Is Katrice behind you with the cabinet?”

  “Yes Lady Tutor.”

  “Now. I will see you directly after communal lunch every day. Be here promptly, just before the food is cleared away.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Sir Amelia growled softly. Trina made no sign she heard.

  “In the usual corner, Katrice.” She said. “Make sure the doors are locked once you put the books and educational materials away.”

  The tutor left the room without even looking at me again. She had stayed all of ten minutes and I was out of the room for five.

  The servants fussed and settled everything in its place. Then they locked away all those books!

  “I will hold the key.” Lara proclaimed. I believe she saw my face.

  “The Lady Tutor…”

  “Is no more a lady than I am. I will serve as my lady’s educational servant. I will hold the key.”

  “Put everything back exactly as I arranged it, or she will be angry. Everything has to be exactly where she expects it when she reaches for it.”

  “Will you be here at every lesson?” Lara asked.

  “Yes, mum.”

  “Then you may check the cabinet while my lady is eating, but I will hold the key.”

  Katrice bobbed obediently and snatched something out of the still open cabinet before she locked it and handed Lara the key.

  Then we were alone again. My nursemaids and me.

  “My lady patroness.” Lara said quietly into the stillness. It was the first time she had referred to me by that honorific. “The tutor had her chance at being a princess consort and lost her pregnancy.”

  My maid opened the cabinet and inspected every bin and item, even ruffling through the books.

  “The thing Katrice removed was a spying cube. I spotted it before she removed it.” Sir Amelia said. “It may have been the only device.”

  “Better to be sure.” Lara said, still rummaging. She did seem to put everything back exactly as it was. “Considering what I’m…”

  “Take her downstairs for a bit.” Sir Amelia suggested.

  Lara looked startled but nodded. She signaled she wanted to pick me up and I jumped into her arms. We went down the same stairs we’d just gone up and she sat at the bottom, just in front of the one way locked door. She could get out without a key but only my maids could enter, they each had a key.

  “My darling patroness, Tutor Trina is a spy. She will report back to the mother of the First Prince, her first charge. Princess consort Vera and Tutor Trina were friends before they were rivals, lady and lady’s maid when she fell to her misery and she is solidly in the First Prince’s faction. I believe she even visited the First Prince in his nursery.”

  That would be scandalous.

  “I need to know the history, allegiance and motivations of everyone I should meet, might meet and have met.”

  “Will you write it down in your little notebook?”

  I shook my head solemnly. “I need to make a Rolodex.”

  “A…”

  “I need a big quantity of heavy and medium papers, a good strong pair of scissors and…”

  “Do you need the papers pre cut to specific sizes? I can put in an order with the stationary workshop.”

  “I can do that?”

  “They have spells and special stationary knives for cutting paper. That’s why some books have a flat edge and some cheaper ones have wavy edges.”

  I knew that on some level, but I hadn’t really thought about it. “I also need a box to hold the cards.”

  “I’ll get you extra ink too.” She teased, kissing the top of her head. “You can never let Tutor Trina know how special you are. She is lazy, she is meant to spend three hours with each of her students, including playing games with them. She rarely remains more than an hour, even with the little princes. She will be very cross that the princess’s mother chose a different tutor. I know for a fact it is because the princess’s maid reported back how Trina treats the boys.”

  I nodded.

  “So. What we are going to do is play act every day, where I’m her and you’re the bratty child she expects. I will coach you on exactly how to behave and how quickly to learn which lessons.”

  I smiled. Lessons in subterfuge. I was being given my first undercover assignment.

  “First, cry every time she gets cross with you. Get up from your chair as often as you want. Ignore her, throw her blocks on the floor. Laugh if she seems angry. Tear papers she tries to use, chew on things you shouldn’t. Act like a typical unruly toddler. Oh. In a few days yell ‘the enemy!’ And slide down the chute again. When I bring you back yell ‘again!again!’ Like it’s a game.

  Limit your vocabulary. If possible stick to yes, no and why.”

  “I do believe that I understand. I’m going to cosplay(there is a word for that, believe it or not, usually used in religious plays) being myself.”

  “Yes, my darling girl. Exactly yes. And blow raspberries in her direction if you ever see her in the hall. She is not permitted to strike you. Now. Let us go and experiment with everything in that cabinet, so you can make decisions for your mischief in the first lesson.

  Lara and Sir Amelia never left me alone with Tutor Trina.

  Tutor Trina had a strict set of standards. I had to sit at the desk and silently do whatever work I was given, unless I was being drilled orally.

  Basically I was in kindergarten.

  With Lara’s help and Sir Amelia’s support I had a whole lot of fun harassing the strict old biddy. Not that she was very old, she couldn’t have been over thirty.

  After she left, Katrice took away the spy device and my nurses worked together to plan the next day’s battle strategy.

  Lara also quizzed me on anything I was supposed to learn, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

  Sir Amelia had some of the best tricks to play. For example, the words pickle and seven sounded almost the same, just a consonant apart. I would say pickle when Tutor Trina pointed at the seven and then laugh uproariously until Lara said something like. “My lady, that’s enough pickle talk.”