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I open my mouth to protest, to say that I prefer e, but then I reht," I say And it really is

Chapter 18

I’M awakened by a hand pressing across , drawing breath throughat last, what I have feared--

"Elisa!" coo li, "Shh!"

"What do you think you’re doing?" I whisper furiously

"I wanted to see if I could sneak past Tristán’s sentries and the Royal Guard and into your tent"

"Oh" I push back uard is the most elite force in the country Surely not just anyone could slip by them Weakly I say, "Well, you are one of the sneakiest people I’ve ever known"

"I don’t deny it" I can’t see him in the dark, but I hear the smile in his voice

"What did you find?"

My tent tilts precariously as he knocks the wall crossing his legs "Five , you’d think they caht It’s toocareful Coifed, even And their horses are stout and sea bred No colors, no h quality Even the weave of their saddle blankets testifies to wealth"

"So they eneral’s"

"I recognized one I don’t know his name, but I’ve seen him at the conde’s shoulder A very tall ht hair slicked back with oil He seeer not He has the look of experience about hi the conde’s advisers and attendants There is only one I’ve never encountered "YouFranco," I say "An elusive man I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken to him"

He pauses, shifts in his rear "Elisayou should know If Humberto were alive, he would be very proud of you"

The hurt that wells up is so unexpected that it’s a e I have to redirect the subject I’m not sure I want to talk about Hu?"

"A tasteless observation about one of their ested they allow theht,’ he said But the tall one--Franco?--said, ‘We have to keep her in view She’ll h’"

I loose a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding "So we can reasonably conclude that they follow us, most likely on the conde’s orders"

"I think so, yes"

I lie back down and pull the blanket up over et so"

"Yes, Your Majesty" He turns over on his knees, no longer bothering with stealth

"And Belén?"

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

Maybe I do want to talk about him A little "Humberto would be proud of you, too He always believed you’d co his naht it would Humberto, I practice silently Humberto

A soft catch of breath Then: "He had a way of believing in people long before they believed in themselves, didn’t he?"

The entrance to one

As we breakfast on corn cakes fried in olive oil, Xiroup apart Everyone else listens to their discussion, shifting aardly in the sand, trying to be invisible

Only Storm has not joined us for breakfast; he does not dare leave the carriage in daylight

"There is safety in nuuard and Conde Tristán’s warriors? It’s no contest And I’m not convinced they’re out to cause trouble It’s likely the conde just sent them to keep an eye on Elisa This journey does not play into his plans, and he’s desperate to feel like he has so we can do is stick together Go to Selvarica as planned The more expectations we meet, the less suspicious we become to observers But if we separate, Elisa is even more vulnerable"

Conde Eduardo is not the only one desperate to feel some sort of control, I muse as I chew onstuck in the carriage with the decoy queen, unable to keep close watch overcoht, Lady Ximena," Hector says "But if he merely wanted to keep an eye on the queen, why didn’t he insist on letting his own delegation travel with us? It doesn’t make sense And the presence of Franco hasabout him My instincts say all is not as it seeer party," Xih people to for us"

Tristán has been listening quietly, sipping froular intervals He ties it off, sets it in the sand, and gains his feet He does it gracefully, in such a way that all our eyes are drawn to hirave when he says, "My father was killed on a journey such as this It’s the perfect opportunity, you see Anyone can be blamed So no one ever really is I still don’t knoho killed my father"

Everyone is silent I say, "What do you advise?"

He shrugs "I don’t know Caution, I guess I think the Lady Ximena is overly optimistic to hope the conde merely wants you observed But I’ off would be safer for you"

I take a deep breath I have to make a decision And it’s one that could lead to someone’s death Mine, or decoy Elisa’s, or someone I care about I used to make these kinds of decisions all the time, when I was only a desert rebel I would have expected to becoroup if necessary, right?" I say

Hector nods "We do But we can’t do it in open desert We need to reach a village or trading post Better yet, a large port like Puerto Verde"

"Then we continue on as we are for now Belén, you will observe theet there and back undetected"