Lowering his voice, Arvo leans in, almost whispering. “No, he put her in rooms where she can be watched. He doesn’t trust her.”

  Kenric frowns and makes a note to tell Víl? to put up a changing screen in front of the fireplace and have the ladies gather when she changes clothes.

  Duke Jellema laughs. “Would anyone send someone so tiny and delicate here to be a spy? If they had, wouldn’t she be trying to curry favor with the king instead of avoiding him? None of that fits. King Oskar is thinking about this all wrong. Tell me what you’re going to do to fix this room situation.”

  Sighing, Arvo pulls out a map of the palace. “Everything is full. I had to kick another trade delegation out of those rooms. What I can do is fix the chimney, replace the wood floors, put up plaster, and seal the windows, but that’s going to mean kicking you out of the palace for a while because I literally have no other place to put you unless you want to stay over the stable or in the barracks.”

  Arvo shoots a questioning glance at Kenric, who shakes his head.

  Arvo continues. “In that case, you’ll have to go live at one of the local inns for a few weeks. I know it’s a hardship, but…

  Kenric laughs. “I think Víl? will be delighted. She liked the inn that we stayed at before. I’ll see if we can get rooms there.”

  Duke Jellema frowns. “It means less protection. Your guards and hers will need to be a lot more vigilant at an inn.”

  Kenric shrugs. “Between her ladies, her honor guard, and my men, we can probably rent the whole inn. We’ll likely need all the rooms they have.”

  Arvo frowns at Kenric. “What inn did you stay in?”

  Kenric shrugs, “We were at The Violet Rose. Víl? has already asked if we could go back there, because, and I’m quoting, ‘the bath water is hot, the rooms are warm, everything is clean, and the food is lovely.’”

  Arvo bristles at this and frowns at Kenric. “It will only be temporary. We’ll move you back into the palace once the repairs to your rooms are finished.”

  Kenric, carefully hiding his smirk, bows to the steward. “As you wish. I just want the tears and complaints to stop. It’s not just Víl?, you know. It’s her ladies, too. The new ones from Centis aren’t too fond of our current accommodations, either. The wooden floors, so they stop stubbing their toes in slippers, will be most appreciated.”

  Arvo waves Kenric away. Kenric grins, “I’ll just go deliver the good news, shall I?”

  Duke Jellema nods and makes his own shooing gesture.

  Kenric gone, Duke Jellema locks the steward's door. “What in the name of all the hells do you two think you’re doing? We’ve worked hard for that trade agreement. I’ve personally posted ten thousand ducats as part of the bond payment for it. If you two manage to scuttle it by mistreating King Ellisar’s representative, I expect you to pay me back every single ducat, with interest.”

  Arvo starts to protest, but Duke Jellema glares him into silence. “You two need to be careful. Yes, I know she’s female. The Fey don’t care much about gender. She reads and writes in several languages. You’d do better to pretend she’s male and treat her accordingly. She’s every inch Ellisar’s representative here, just as if she were male. Make no mistake about that.”

  Arvo rolls his eyes and shrugs.

  Duke Jellema growls in frustration. “I know for a fact that she’s already sent several letters back to the Fey court. Many of them are either her personal friends or her relatives. Some of her relatives have already left because of the deplorable conditions. They’re wealthy, Arvo. They bought a ship and left aboard it because The Hamadryad wasn’t leaving soon enough to suit them. Think about that for a moment.”

  Arvo considers this for a moment and blanches slightly before Duke Jellema continues. “Now I’m going to tell you how we’re going to fix this. You’re not going to like it, but you’re going to do it. To salvage this situation, you’ll start a renovation project in that part of the palace. We’ll use that excuse to cover up the sloppy painting over the old murals, the removal of the trim, the artwork, and all the other missing details. With space so tight, you’ll put her in rooms that are due to be renovated, so she doesn’t have to go back to the inn. Since she’s going to be here for a while, you’ll need to evict your worthless relatives so you have rooms to move the actual nobility into as they’re renovated. Is King Oskar aware of how much of your family he feeds daily?

  Arvo turns a bit pale, but he nods. “They’ve already been here longer than I expected after the family home caught fire and burned.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The duke fixes Arvo with another hard stare. “You know what you need to do. Make sure it gets done. And quickly, no foot-dragging.”

  Arvo swallows hard and watches as Duke Jellema unlocks the door and walks out. Arvo sinks into his chair, dreading the eviction of his own family. Now he’s caught between the dragon and the deep blue sea. If Duke Jellema complains directly to Oskar, Arvo probably won’t have a job and might even end up in the dungeon.

  Neither Arvo nor Oskar can afford to make Duke Jellema angry. He’s been shrewd in investing in various projects across his duchy. The port of Varpua was deepened and expanded to handle more ships, since it’s one of the closest ports to the capital city, Dobile. Taxes and tariffs on imported goods bring in steady, substantial income.

  Duke Jellema has also invested heavily in ventures that have led to the creation of new alloys, dyes, medicines, and many other advancements, making him quite wealthy.

  The coaching inns along the major roads are another of Duke Jellema’s innovations. Spaced a comfortable day’s travel from any city, many have become trading hubs for the local populations. These inns are also popular for being clean, safe, and affordable places to stay overnight before continuing their journey.

  Additional services, such as horse swapping and courier operations, have allowed Duke Jellema to control most of the transportation of goods and people throughout Centis.

  Even the military relies on his wagons for supplies and troop movements. If Duke Jellema truly wanted to, he could likely hire enough mercenaries to overthrow Oskar and claim the throne for himself. He might even gain support from one or two other dukes, many of whom are pretty annoyed with Oskar’s antics, especially when it comes to their wives.

  Oskar is very sensitive to Duke Jellema’s requests, especially when they are as reasonable as this one, namely, evict his own family, who are not nobles, from the royal palace so that the nobles have a place to stay. Gritting his teeth, Arvo goes to deliver the bad news to his family. The free rent, food, and maid service are now things of the past.

  Kenric returns, and I look up to see him grinning.”Good news. We’ll be moving back to The Violet Rose for a few weeks while they repair these rooms. As it turns out, this part of the castle is undergoing renovation. Since they were full and these rooms were empty, you were assigned to them. Pack everything back up. The chimney, the floors, the windows, all of it is getting fixed. Arvo, the steward, has agreed to reschedule the renovation to fix these rooms so we can move back in. He swears that when it’s done, they’ll be some of the nicer rooms in the palace.”

  Kenric catches me up and spins me around.”The sooner everything is packed up, the sooner we can move to the inn. I know that you were more comfortable there.”

  Mila darts in from the adjoining room.”Did I hear that right? We’re being moved to an inn? They’re really going to fix all this?”

  Kenric nods.”The sooner you get everything packed, the sooner we can leave for the inn. I’ve spoken to the innkeeper already, and we’ll have the whole place to ourselves. We’ve booked every room they have for the next few weeks. Between the two of us, your ladies, your honor guard, and my men, it’ll be a bit of a tight fit, but everyone will have their own bed. Doustan and Rekke, the couple who own it, are quite excited about it. It will be the first time in quite a while that they’ve been full up.”

  Laughing, Lilli pulls out an empty trunk. “What are we all standing around for? Let’s get packed up so we can leave this miserable, toe-stubbing ice cave.”

  Breaking into a flurry of activity, the whole group starts packing while Kenric goes to hire wagons to carry everything. We arrive at the inn to find everything ready for us. It’s warm and cozy. Doustan and Rekke make us feel very welcome, so we begin to settle in. Inaba talks with Doustan about securing the premises since we’ve taken all the rooms.

  We’re safe enough for now. It’s warm here, and Rekke is sympathetic when we explain that we haven't been able to bathe properly at the palace because it’s been so cold.

  Rekke draws us all a bath. Our rooms at the palace were too cold for bathing. Washing my hair would have been an invitation for Winter Fever. Here, though, everything is warm enough that it feels safe to get thoroughly and completely clean.

  Arvo moves through the palace to find his family, accompanied by a few guards he’s friendly with. Instead of staying in some of the lower-tiered rooms meant for lesser lords like baronets, they’ve apparently snuck into the nicer parts of the palace. “Thank the gods that Duke Jellema hasn’t found out about all of this. My head would already be on a pike.”

  Arvo finds his mother and confronts her. “Mother, you need to pack up and leave.”

  Arvo’s mother waves an airy hand at him. “Why would I want to do that? This is the nicest place I’ve ever lived in. I wasn’t sure why you took the job here when you first accepted the position, but now I see it.”

  Grinding his teeth in frustration, Arvo finally grates out a few sentences. “You can either leave here on your own and go where you want, or I will get the castle guard to escort you to some very different accommodations in the dungeons. You were supposed to be gone months ago. You’re not a noble, and you shouldn’t even be allowed into this part of the castle. That’s an oversight I’ll fix soon.”

  “Where exactly am I to go then?” Helmi asks, pouting.

  Secretly, she’d been planning never to leave.

  Arvo snorts dismissively. “That’s no longer my concern. You’ve been a guest of the king for more than a year now. You’ve had more than enough time to make living arrangements of your own after the house burned. Worse yet, you’ve brought more of the family to live here. It’s over. Find your own place. Take all the others with you. Some of them still own houses. Perhaps you could move in with one of them instead. No matter what, you cannot and will not remain here. The dukes know that you’re here, and you can’t stay. If you steal anything else from the rooms, I’ll have you charged with theft. You’ve already cost me dearly with your thieving. I have to replace everything you’ve stolen from the palace out of my own pocket. Furthermore, I have to pay to accommodate a foreign princess and her entire retinue at a local inn while her rooms are being renovated. So, yes, you’re out. Right now. This very minute, in fact. I’ve brought some men with me to see to it.”