Sleeping snuggled up beside Arden had been very nice. Waking up with Arden beside me had been really good too, but it had happened far earlier than I was expecting.

  Indeed it had been his shifting and getting up that had woken me.

  “What’s wrong?” I murmured, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I sat.

  It was still dark out. Had something happened? Some emergency that called him away before the morning had really started?

  “Go back to sleep. I should go ahead and get up and get going.” he told me, kissing my forehead. "Hyacinth can bring you up to the palace later.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind to be up and at it early in the morning.” I frowned, though I was relieved it was no emergency.

  “I’m glad, but Hyacinth would probably appreciate sleeping in a little on her day off.” he smiled at me.

  “Oh, that’s a good point. I guess I can survive not being glued to your hip for a while. I managed it when you were freeing the rest of my friends.” I smiled, reaching out to brush my fingers through his pretty white hair.

  The half-elf soldier caught my hand and pulled it to my lips. “You go back to sleep and I’ll have Yip, or whoever is on duty right now, have the kitchens send you breakfast in bed later. How does that sound?”

  “Lovely, actually.”

  “Then I’ll tell them to bring you breakfast in bed.

  “Unless I’m still asleep when they get here.” I frowned.

  “Well, they can wake you up a little before, if you like.”

  “Oh, yes. That would be nice.”

  “What time?”

  “Seven would be fine with me. That’ll be another hour or so worth of sleep.”

  “Alright then.” he nodded, then kissed me briefly. “I have to change and go. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Arden pulled away, grimacing. “I wish I could stay with you.”

  “You can’t. You have important work. Go on.” I made shoo-ing motions with my hands. “And remember, we’ll get to be together later today, anyways, if all goes to plan!”

  “Right. It’s just a few hours. That’s not that long.” He sighed, then smiled, “I’m so happy I get to be with you.”

  My face heated, “Aww shucks. I’m glad too. Go on.”

  He left, and I lay back down, almost immediately dozing off once more.

  -

  Arden hated leaving her.

  He had to, of course, just like he’d had to leave her when gone to go help free the rest of her fey friends from the circus. That had been for an entire day though, whereas this time he’d see her in just a few hours. Hopefully, anyways.

  As the fey soldier made his way along the already bustling cobblestone streets of the fey capital, he turned over what he’d learned the night before in his mind.

  Hyacinth’s instincts were, once more, proving to be correct. She’d mentioned, however briefly, the possibility of someone from the palace being involved, and he was starting to suspect that was the truth.

  The informant he’d tracked down, a brownie called Pikern, had run messages for the rebels the last time, but hadn’t known they were rebels until later. Once he’d found out the truth about what he’d been doing, the brownie had been only too pleased to help with the investigation, not wanting to get into any trouble himself.

  Pikern had been familiar with other messenger runners. He’d been told that his employment was running private messages for a specific business, and had assumed that the others had thought the same, but later it was proved that some of the messengers were in on the whole thing, and some weren’t, as was the case with Pickern.

  Lear had made sure that the identities of all of his informants had remained anonymous, and as far as Arden knew, only the king, Lear’s squad, and one or two generals knew the names of the people who had acted as informants. His aunts’ names had leaked, that was inevitable, given the sheer amount of information they’d been able to provide. All that said, the brownie had easily flown under the radar, the rebels not realizing that one of their clueless messengers wasn’t as clueless as they’d thought.

  Arden hurried through the open gates of the palace, and hurried to his study.

  He’d sent a message to Asher that he’d be at the palace early so he could get a start on the day, which was starting to be a long one. As he’d hoped, the king soon joined him in the office, looking tired but not displeased.

  “What did you find?”

  “Not much, if I’m being honest.” Arden grimaced. “I talked with the brownie.” It was always best to avoid saying names, but Asher would know who he meant.

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  “Oh, Meadowbell wasn’t able to find him.”

  “I have good connections in the brownie community. They’re close-knit and don’t trust outsiders easily.”

  “Of course.” Asher nodded. “What’d you find?”

  “First of all, Hyacinth brought up how we very briefly thought that there was maybe some kind of contact in the palace itself. But we could never find anything substantial and it went nowhere.”

  “Yes.” Asher nodded, frowning, able to see where this was going.

  “Well, the brownie has noticed Fensir’s grandson going in and out of the palace lately. It’s been enough times that he thought it was odd, given the guy hasn’t repeatedly visited the palace like that before.”

  “Baron Fensir was raising his grandson, right? But his wife never knew anything about his place in the rebellion, and denounced his actions after the leaders were caught, if my memory serves.”

  “Yes. That doesn't mean the grandson didn’t agree with his grandfather, and just kept his mouth shut, although he was a youth at the time. He’s grown now. Could very easily resent what happened.”

  “True. But…who would be the contact?”

  “I don’t know. But I do think we missed something last time. We had to act so quickly back then in order to keep an actual revolt from breaking out that it’s entirely possible that we did miss something.”

  “And if we didn’t ask about it, the rebels weren’t going to say anything, either.” Asher sighed.

  Arden was quiet for a few moments. “I…I hate to say it, but I…think that…talking to Kirven might be a good idea.”

  The king blinked, “Sure. Do you feel up to it?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I feel. I’ll do it because it’s what needs to be done.” the white-haired half-elf sighed.

  “I appreciate that.” Asher sighed, “Well, that’s something that you can definitely do. But first, have you eaten breakfast yet?”

  “No, I wasn’t hungry.”

  “I am. I’ll have some brought up. Once we’ve eaten, then you can go down.”

  “My aunts often say that food seems to make things better.” Arden smiled slightly.

  “Your aunts are very wise!” Asher grinned.

  “Yeah, they are.” he agreed.

  The king sent a servant to get some food, and they were soon eating a tray of meat, fruit, cheeses, olives, and pickles with some crusty bread, with coffee and tea.

  They took their time eating, neither one really looking forward to the task they would soon have to do. Going to the dungeons was never fun, and neither of them particularly wanted to deal with Kirven, who was an ass even on a good day.

  “It’s a kind of an odd breakfast, but it works.” Arden said, popping a final crust of bread into his mouth.

  “True.” the white-haired fey man said around his mouthful of bread.

  “Besides, any food can be breakfast food. You just have to eat it for breakfast.” he shrugged.

  Arden snorted, sipped his tea, then laughed, “Hey, if it’s what you want, I’m not judging.”

  “Yeah. Sometimes I just don't want normal breakfast food, so I don’t limit myself to that.” Asher smiled a little, “Keeps things interesting, at the very least.”

  “There’s no reason you’d have to eat traditional breakfast food. So yeah, go for it.” Arden shrugged, drinking the last of his tea, then sighing, not looking forward to the task before him. “I should go.”

  “Just wait. I’ll go with you. There’s no need for you to do this alone.”

  “There’s also no need for you to go traipsing about the dungeons. Besides, I’m not sure I want to see you lose it and then cry after.” Arden grimaced.

  “I know I’m a bit of a bleeding heart, but I’ve seen my fair share of battles and bloodshed and difficulties.” Asher smiled grimly. “Most of it with your captain.”

  The fey soldier sighed, “Alright. I won’t stop you. Not that I could, anyways, you’re literally the king.”

  “Exactly.” Asher snorted. He shoved another piece of cheese into his mouth, then drank the last of his coffee, and made a face because it probably tasted kind of weird as he stood. Swallowing, he said, “Alright. Let’s go.”

  They left the office and meandered their way through the palace, still not eager to make their way to the dungeons. But all too soon, they approached the door that would lead them into the bowels of the castle.

  The guard, seeing the king, leapt to attention. “Your highness!”

  “At ease.” Asher waved his hand languidly. “Arden and I are going down. I’d prefer it if no one found out we went down there, catch my drift?”

  “Yes, of course, your highness.” the guard bowed.

  “Thanks. I hope we won’t be long.”

  “You and me both.” Arden muttered as they passed through the solid wooden door, and began to descend into the darkness of the dungeons.

  The torches in their sconces provided ample light. Thank goodness for dwarvish light runes. They were a very recent development, and Arden filed it away as a secret he should pass on to Dern. He usually tried not to pass on too many of their research secrets, but that one was harmless, and would only benefit others. It would mean they’d no longer have to use the old fire and flame runes, which still required fuel, like the oil in Winna’s lamps.

  The air grew noticeably cooler as they descended, passing hallways on either side that branched out.

  Since his father had committed such a grave crime as treason, Kirven was held in the deepest part of the dungeon, which was also the dampest and the most uncomfortable.

  Once upon a time, the dungeons would have been full of prisoners of all kinds, crammed in there. But Asher had built prisons elsewhere, since it seemed ridiculous to keep the non-violent offenders with the far more dangerous ones. For the most part, only traitors were kept in the palace anymore. They were lucky to be left alive, past kings would have sentenced them to death for treason, which was their right as ruler.

  But Asher was a no-harm-no-foul kind of person in a lot of ways, and had decided to show mercy on them. Not that living in the palace dungeon was any walk in the park.

  The prisoners had their own cells and were fed three times a day. They were given any medical care they required, as well as writing supplies and books to read. Though they weren’t allowed visitors of any kind, they were allowed to correspond with family members, and any letters they sent or received were looked over carefully before sent or given to the prisoner in question, in case it was encoded.

  This was far better than how prisoners were treated in the past, they’d have just been thrown down there to rot without any light, even, and barely kept alive on scraps of bread and muddy water, with nothing to occupy their minds except whatever visions they could conjure in the darkness.

  Soon, they stood outside the door of Kirven’s cell.

  “Ready?” Asher asked.

  “No, but let’s do this.” Arden sighed.

  The king flung open the door, and walked in.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Kirven drawled, sounding as cocky as ever.