Page 117 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

We couldn’t afford to have Enora slip now.

She needed to be focused and clear-headed, Jasper be damned.

She needed to be learning and training, absorbing everything around her. For her sake and for mine, she had to succeed in these trials and see our bargain fulfilled.

“Change of plans,” I said. “Eilir, I’ll need some urgent help if you don’t mind.”

The sprite was upright in an instant. “Of course I don’t mind. Anything for the princess.”

“Good. Go see Malva for me. She was seeing to the arrangements for our dinner tonight. Tell her to scrap it all. Fetch some mead, meat, and cheese. Fruit, even. Ask her to pack it all in a basket and bring it to the study. Make sure it’s there by sunset.”

“Sunset. How romantic,” Gallan chuckled and walked away from the table again as Eilir’s eye started to twitch.

“Are you…? A…a picnic?” they sputtered. “My dear, sweet Max. Enora is hardly feeling well enough for anything of the sort right now.”

“Sure. A picnic.” I waved my hand. “We can call it whatever you want. And I told you I needed your help, didn’t I? Not your opinion.”

Eilir grumbled many unsavory things under their breath, including their favorite—overgrown bat—right before they stuck their tiny black tongue out at me, buzzed right by my head, and vanished.

A labored groan took every ounce of air from my lungs as I dropped into the closest chair.

“This day just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?” Gallan quipped as he joined me, armed with two cups of dark spirits.

At least he always knew what I needed.

“I don’t think it can get any worse, at least,” I mumbled with the glass pressed to my lip before I drained it in one go.

Gallan did the same and hissed out, “Be careful what you say, my liege.”

We were beyond being superstitious about things.

The two of us sat in silence for at least a few minutes, both of our attentions half-absent, half-focused on the table, before Gallan asked, “You sure you didn’t want to tell Eilir about any of this?”

He gestured to the now-covered map we had been working over and to the open missive beside it.

The missive whose broken wax seal bore the crest of Odessa’s king.

“No, Goddess, no. Not yet.”

“How about Jasper?”

I sighed. “I’m sure he knows already, but I’ll go fill him in. Make sure there are no surprises, because he clearly isn’t thinking straight.”

Gallan nodded for a moment before he drawled with hefty caution, “You know…”

I fixed him with an annoyed glance.

“It’s not too late to cancel the Agōn Ferr. Put the start of it on hold at the very least. If any of what we’ve learned today is credible…”

“Absolutely not. We go ahead with the tournament as planned, and no one speaks a word of it to Enora unless there is a legitimate threat of danger, understood?”

“Understood, my liege.” Gallan rapped his fingers on the table. “And good luck with her tonight. You’re going to need it.”

To my pleasant surprise, Enora agreed to meet me.

A cowardly move, perhaps, to send the sprite to extend an invitation in my stead, but I knew Enora had developed a soft spot for them, and I’d be damned if I didn’t lean on that when I needed to. I sent my tiny emissary early enough to give Enora plenty of time to get ready and asked she meet me outside her quarters around sunset.

What a foolish sight I must’ve been, standing in the hall with my hands clasped behind my back as soon as the first inkling of russet hues hit the sky. Not that I was eager, but cautiously hopeful. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, I could move in swiftly enough to undo some of the destruction that Jasper had caused that morning.