Page 93 of Lady Knight and the Thief

“Ye don’t know that,” Rhene said and crossed his arms.

“He does, Rhene,” Cypress said.

The day passed in relatively the same fashion. One of them would suggest an option for infiltrating the castle; another would point out how it would fail.

Cypress at one point took to watching the plants sway in the breeze coming through the open arches.

“We’ve been through this, Rhene. I don’t remember enough of the Keep to go in by myself. I need Cypress if I want any chance of slipping through unseen. She knows all of the passages.”

“If the two of ye go, then I’ll come too. One more sword is better.”

Cypress shook her head. “You’ll stand out too much. I can potentially hide Torren and me within the servants, if need be. You’re too…” she started, but struggled to find the right word to describe exactly how much Rhene stood out.

“She’s trying to be nice, Rhene. You’re too obviously Fair Folk, even with a Glamour.”

Rhene sighed, but relented. “I know, I just can’t stand the thought of ye both going without help.”

“Would you feel the same if I were a man?” Cypress asked and turned to glare at him.

Beside her, Torren sat back with his hands raised.

“Lassie, that’s not what I meant,” Rhene tried, but Cypress shook her head.

“Do I need to remind you I was Captain of the Prince Guard for several years, a Knight of Grethnah? Do. Not. Coddle. Me.”

Without a word, Rhene nodded his head.

Silence hung over the group for several moments before a thought struck Cypress.

“What is the date?” She asked. Cypress had lost count of the days during their travels; the ever-shifting road of the Wylds made the days seem both shorter and longer than natural.

“Twentieth day of the eighth moon."

“How fast can you forge an invitation for a ball and have suitable garments for us?” Cypress asked, her mind already putting puzzle pieces together.

They would infiltrate the castle under the guise of an invitation to the ball with human names, and then quietly slip away down the hidden passages.

Torren shrugged. “If you want to dance, Lass, I can arrange that?”

She sighed in exasperation. “No,idiot,there is always a ball held at the end of summer, to celebrate the end of Cade’s season. It’s a masquerade. If we can get in, then when there are many more people than usual in the Keep, we have a better chance of going undetected.”

Understanding dawned across Torren’s face, though the first thing out of his mouth was “Cade’sseason?”

Cypress pulled a face. “Yes.Season. The joust comes first, then the ball at the end of the season.”

Torren looked to Rhene. “How have we not thought of this?”

Rhene shrugged. “I suppose because we’ve never had the Captain of their guard on our side.”

She nodded, accepting the attempt at mending the newly formed friendship between them. “So, how long?”

Torren shrugged. “My people could probably have us outfitted by tomorrow night, sooner if we need the time?”

“If we can get to the keep by the full moon, we will be in a perfect position to slip in while the majority of people are making entrances, and decline the formal introduction by the steward. Once we’re in, I can slip into the servant corridors, and there we will be able to walk unseen through the entire castle.”

“And if the servants see us?”

Cypress grimaced. “Depends on who sees us, if we’re seen.”