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Averie nodded slowly, a knowing gleam in her eyes. “Not who you were hoping for? Do tell.”
    “Won’t.” Katya grinned as her lady-in-waiting set a plate of cheese and cutlets on the table beside her. “I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you, jewel of my heart.” She bit into a slice of roast beef and closed her eyes in bliss. “I just realized I skipped breakfast.”
    “I’ll fetch you a glass of wine.”
    “I might abdicate to you if you keep this up.”
    “Keep the crown. I’m holding the cake in reserve until you promise to give me your jewelry.”
    “Take what you like. I saw the coat you had made for the Courtiers Ball, by the way. It’s genius.”
    “And the sapphires I found will go lovely with your eyes.”
    “When are we getting married?”
    “I don’t marry titles. You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that.”
    Katya attacked the rest of her lunch as Averie brought her wine; her thoughts wandered to the task in front of her. She ruled out everyone in the Order as the palace traitor; she couldn’t point fingers at her team. Crowe would have censured her, but Katya couldn’t work with them if she didn’t trust them. Was that how Uncle Roland had died, betrayed by someone he should have been able to trust?
    As Katya sipped her wine, the encounter with Starbride flitted past her mind’s eye. It’d been nice to be a face in the crowd, a guardswoman who could flirt with impunity, free to give directions to a lost courtier. Of course, Starbride would be at the Courtiers Ball—all of the courtiers and nobles would. They all wanted something, and a ball was the perfect place to continue their petitions. But what did Starbride want? When she’d found out who Katya was, she hadn’t taken the opportunity to turn on the charm or plead her case. And out of all the years new courtiers had been coming to the palace, Katya never heard of one wanting the library before anything else.
    Starbride could be a wallflower, she supposed. Courtiers could be shy, but a shy girl would’ve hidden in her room; she would’ve clammed up when meeting a stranger. A shy girl would have keeled over when Katya threatened to lop off her head. Starbride had even seemed a little offended.
    The idea was…intriguing. It reminded her of her brother Reinholt, who’d chosen the courtier no one expected as his future queen. Brom’s background was impeccable; it was an excellent match but still unexpected. Brom was plump and cute; she had a laugh that could cheer anyone. All the courtiers liked her because none of them thought of her as a threat. They didn’t know that Reinholt valued her sweet disposition more than anything, or that he wooed her in private. Brom could keep secrets, and if Katya’s unassuming sister-in-law could remain a mystery, anyone could.
    Katya stood and pulled her arms over her head until her shoulders popped. She hadn’t recognized the Shadow, but she didn’t know everyone at court. Either he hadn’t recognized her or his brain couldn’t wrap itself around the princess chasing traitors through the woods. He might not live in the palace, but he knew one of his fellow conspirators had palace connections. Katya paced over her sitting room rug. All she could do now was keep the eyes of court on her while her team did its job and then run the traitor to ground once they sniffed him out.
    With that in mind, Katya wandered. Through the halls of the palace, she languished, boredom as moving art. Whenever she found a group of hall-lingerers, she complained about not being able to go out hunting because she had to be presentable at the Courtiers Ball that evening.
    The courtiers and nobles put on sympathetic expressions. Some of the ladies leaned close, their wispy, layered dresses whispering across the backs of Katya’s hands. It made her recall Starbride’s dress, more layered than all of them, and led to thoughts of Starbride’s mother. Katya hid her smiles behind yawns.
    When