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thank you.”
    He flipped through the book’s pages rapidly. “Do you have somewhere else to be?”
    Something was bothering him. “What’s wrong?”
    He shrugged and looked out the window. “Just trying to do my job.”
    Of course he was. All the royal guards were on high alert since her birthday, as if the increased attention from suitors put her in greater danger. Most of them were harmless and easily put off. All but one. In the meantime, she felt even more smothered than usual.
    “Well, you don’t need to do it right now.” She meant to reassure him that she had many guards watching out for her, but judging by the look on his face, he’d misunderstood. “Eben, I didn’t—”
    “You should let me do my job, Lily. It’s the one thing I can do around here.” He tossed the book onto a table so hard it slid and thudded onto the floor.
    The white-haired couple raised their heads. She waved, and they resumed their game, accustomed to young people who forgot to reign in their noise.
    Eben lowered his voice. “You should have let me do my job earlier.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Why did you protect Runson?”
    “I didn’t protect him.” Lily put her feet on the floor and scooted to the edge of her seat. Eben wasn’t talking sense.
    “You should have let me arrest him.”
    “His family owns half of Eltekon. You can’t just arrest him.”
    “They don’t intimidate me.”
    He meant that. Lily was impressed. Runson’s family intimidated her. “I just wanted him gone, Eben.”
    “I could have made sure he stayed gone.” Eben leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, a little wrinkle forming between his brows.
    “I don’t plan on giving him any more of my time during the festival, or any more than what is officially necessary afterwards. So, even if he does show his face again, it won’t do him any good.”
    “So, he was bothering you.”
    “Of course he was bothering me! When has Runny not bothered me?”
    Eben glared at her.
    She sighed. “You know what I mean—that year doesn’t count. I didn’t really know him then.” None of the other guards, except maybe Riva, cared who she spent time with. “Why does it bother you so much?”
    He turned his face to the window but didn’t respond. “You’d better get going.”
    Barely visible through the flowers and trees, Neylan scurried towards the maze.
    “Eben, I . . .” She didn’t know what she wanted to say.
    He picked up his book. “Go ahead. You don’t want to keep the twins waiting.”
    She didn’t wonder that he knew what they were up to. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She tried to smile.
    He nodded.
    She left. At least she still had a chance to make someone happy today.

Chapter Four
     
    L ily reached the maze and stood to the side to catch her breath, but only for a moment. Half the girls stood inside the firethorns, and the others milled about under the willows, arguing over who would enter last and risk being caught first by Melantha.
    Lily lost her last hairpins on the way, so she broke a twig from the willow, wound her hair tightly, and secured it. Wherever the girls had stashed Runson, he wouldn’t stay lost long. She hoped he wouldn’t come into the maze again. Like most people, he’d never been in before. The place was . . . unnatural; a passageway, even when fully trimmed back, regrew five times as fast as any other hedge in the gardens. Not to mention the spiders, although there were fewer of those than people thought.
    “You’re here.” Ruby tugged on her hand. Her dark hair had come down, too. “Let’s go .”
    Junia and Ivy stood near the hedge with Melantha. Hazel frowned at the pomegranate that had rolled near the entrance.
    “Is something wrong?” Lily asked.
    Hazel raised her eyes to the hedge as if she could see through it. “I’m wondering if Bay could have gotten lost in there trying to find me. She knew where we were.”
    “Would she have gone in?” Coral joined them.
    “Bay isn’t