The first thing I did when I returned to the guest bedroom was to fall backwards onto the bed and cover my head with my arms.

  "If Prince Darius was here up until three years ago, then that means that Diana must have been here after then, but sometime before Adrian's coming of age."

  But when I did the math, the timeline was too tight. There had been only two years for Diana to have filled up this room with all these things.

  I turned to look at the bookshelf, squinting at it in the lamplight.

  There were quite a few of those ribbon-bound manuscripts.

  I reached out to grab the first volume, wondering if Diana had been diligent enough to date them. Her handwriting was neat and thin, a continuous cursive script full of small flourishes, but the date wasn't marked.

  It was still a good read, though. A much cleaner, warmer sort of romance than the one I had read in the Printemps manor.

  I was startled out of my reading by Erika opening the door.

  Erika looked around the room and, upon seeing that it was just the two of us, jumped onto the bed next to me to bury her face in one of the pillows.

  I turned to face her and poked her in the side.

  "Hey! You're going to ruin your uniform! Now, what will everyone else think?"

  She laughed, turning over to hit me in the face with the pillow.

  "Gods, Sophie. I need a drink."

  "A drink? Is that something you do regularly?"

  "Only when I'm stressed about a job."

  I raised my eyebrow, and she huffed.

  "I mean it!"

  "Of course, of course."

  I stood up to ring the bell, and hid Erika from view as a young maid came to the door to hear my request.

  "A glass of wine, please."

  The maid nodded before scurrying off into the lamplit corridor.

  Erika sat up in the bed. "And since when do you drink?"

  "I don't. It's for you."

  Erika looked at me, and I couldn't tell exactly what sort of expression she was making in the dim.

  "I'm really not allowed to drink on the job, Sophie."

  "Well, I say you are. Besides, I need to update you on some things I discovered."

  ---

  Erika set down her empty glass.

  "So, this Prince Darius was here before Diana?"

  "Well... With the way her magic works, she could have been here in the room at the same time without him remembering it, but that doesn't seem like something she would do."

  "I agree that the timeline doesn't make sense. We should look into Prince Darius as a start, because I think I'm coming to an idea."

  "Oh?"

  "Don't worry about it. It sounds like the people here liked him. That's good, it gives me an angle to get them talking."

  She put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes.

  "...Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, but do you really have time to be helping me with this? What about your... you know. Other job."

  She opened her eyes, casting a concerned glance my way.

  "That can't start until Adrian is here. The legwork until then is the same. Become a recognized part of the staff, and develop as much trust as possible. If anything, this could help."

  She closed her eyes again, thinking, but after a short while her breathing grew slight, and I realized she had fallen asleep.

  I leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, turning the blanket over to cover her.

  "Goodnight, Erika."

  ---

  The sunrise was as beautiful as I had imagined it. When I leaned out the window, the view down the ridge was unbroken all the way to the fields south of the mountain, and I could see the beams of dawn's light break over the whole world in a wide wave.

  "How many times has Diana seen this very view? I wish I could have shared it with her."

  An unsettling feeling bubbled up in my chest, both warm and cold.

  I turned to Erika, and shook her awake.

  She jolted in a panic.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Sophie! Why didn't you wake me up?"

  "You needed the sleep."

  She groaned, turning to hide her face from the light. "I need to sleep in the servants' quarters, where I belong, Sophie."

  "Erika... I'm the lady of the house and this is my first time in a keep like this. If I tell them that I was scared, and needed you to attend to me, they won't think twice about it."

  "...Okay, Sophie, that could work, but there's no reason for you to take that sort of burden when you could have just woken me up."

  I turned to look back out the window, at the open expanse in front of me.

  "It won't matter in the long run. As soon as we confirm whether or not Diana's returning with Adrian, we're leaving. If she's not here, I have no reason to be."

  Erika startled, and stared at me.

  I closed my eyes and gripped the moonstone that I still kept with me.

  "...Damnit."

  "Sophie..."

  "I know, Erika. I know that's... I don't want to talk about it yet."

  Erika put a hand on my shoulder.

  "That's not it, Sophie. I'm sorry but... my duty to the Faraldi will require that I stay here until at least the wedding."

  I jumped, wheeling around on her.

  "What?"

  "I..."

  "Erika, for something like this, you can't hide it anymore. If I'm going to stay here any longer than I need to, if I need to marry Adrian for your plan to work, I need to know what it's all for."

  She covered her eyes with her hand.

  "Sophie, if you need to leave, I can figure out a way to make it work without you. You don't have to stay on my account, but I can't leave here until the job is done. "

  I felt the prickling heat rise back up, from my spine to my neck.

  "Erika. I will not abandon you. Ever. So tell me. I am in a uniquely helpful position right now as Adrian's fiance. This is an opportune time to make use of me as a resource, so make use of me."

  She took a deep breath. "Is this really the time, Sophie? You have your own problems to deal with."

  "Whether or not this is the most convenient time for me changes nothing. You know I'm right, the only reason you haven't already used me is because I'm your sister."

  I held her hand and gently moved it so she could look me in the eyes.

  "From now on, it's not just you or me. It's us. So please."

  She leaned in to press her head against my chest, and I slowly guided her to sit with me on the bed.

  "...I need to make a copy of one of the Hiems' secret seals. Preferably, Adrian's seal."

  I gave her a skeptical look. "Is that... really worth the ten thousand gold coins they lent us?"

  "Yes, Sophie. The Hiems family still performs a wide variety of military duties, so..."

  "So...?"

  "This isn't like the Printemps family seal, Sophie. It's not just a symbol of credit or identification that your noble daughter can use to buy dresses with."

  She leaned back to look at me in the eyes, her gaze intense.

  "The Hiems have partial control over the border forces. It could be used to forge a military order, and the amount of potential damage is extreme. Even the threat that such a thing could be possible would give the Faraldi a huge amount of leverage."

  "Erika, that's... How was a maid supposed to accomplish the theft of something so important?"

  "... It was a job taken on a contingency, Sophie. This marriage makes it possible. I'm not just any maid. I'm your maid. And you're not just any noble lady, you're Adrian's fiance. You provide a route to access."

  I inhaled deeply through my nose, and then out, slowly, through pursed lips. "And yet, you were still going to try to do this without me?"

  "... I'm sorry, Sophie. If the worst came to pass, I had already planned on being the only one to shoulder the blame."

  I glared at her, resolute. "Well, Erika, you know that's not happening. So, where can I start?"

  ---

  Unfortunately, Erika had no grand, elaborate plan for me. For now, my duty to our task was to proceed as normal, and to act my part as the prospective fiance.

  The objective was to build up trust and rapport with the staff, the steward especially. With their support, I could begin to grow my social circle, and with it, my power within the estate.

  That meant going through the motions of a normal day.

  First, I packed up as many of Diana's things into my own luggage as possible.

  Then, my things were moved into my permanent bedroom: an exceptionally spacious bedroom with my own desk, and all of the other fine things afforded to noble ladies that I had never had back home.

  Several servants attended to me throughout, guiding me through their collection of appropriate furniture for them to decorate the room with before the day was over.

  I would have loved it, if not for the sliding door leading directly into Adrian's bedroom.

  "And of course, latched from his side."

  After that, breakfast, and then several hours of nothing, followed by lunch.

  It was enough to drive me mad. The steward had not allowed me to inspect even the most innocuous of the ledgers, as I was not yet officially a member of the house, and there was no other work appropriate for someone of my status.

  By dinner, all I had done was wander aimlessly about the castle and read Diana's books in various sunny corners while the staff waited upon me.

  "I hope Erika has fared better."

  ---

  "Don't worry about it, Sophie. That's actually more helpful than you realize."

  I had just forced myself to finish the fragrant, well-spiced meat pie on my plate, and Erika was now starting on hers.

  "I don't really see how. This is the least useful I've felt in weeks."

  "Your job is to play the part. Lounging, reading, and playing music are what noble ladies do when they're not yet married. Maybe you could pick up an instrument?"

  I leaned back in my chair and groaned, causing her to laugh.

  "Not as exciting as you expected?"

  "It's not exciting at all."

  "Well, this is just a moving day. Tomorrow, you could try pressing to be introduced to the heads of staff. You have that right, at the very least."

  She gestured towards me with her hand. "But it wouldn't do you any harm to spend just a couple more days letting them get used to you, first. Word among the staff is already positive. You're polite, and you remember people's names. I don't think you realize how unusual that is."

  I shuddered, thinking of Father and our other siblings.

  "No, Erika, I do know. That's why I do it."

  We finished the meal in silence.