"Grace!"

I yelped and shot upright, smashing my forehead off something solid. The something solid stumbled backwards with a grunt.

I was so distraught after having the same nightmare that it took me a moment to realise I'd just head-butted Leo. By that point, he'd sunk onto the other sofa again, holding his head in his hands.

I rubbed my own throbbing forehead with shaking fingers. "I'm s-sorry."

"It's all right," he said, but he was glaring at me.

I watched him for a moment. Then I started to laugh.

His glare melted into confusion. "What?"

"That actually helped me feel better."

"I'm glad my suffering causes you amusement," he snapped. But his voice softened immediately. "It seems that I couldn't save you from a nightmare after all. I'm sorry."

He stood up and came over again, staring down at my face and searching it for -- I presumed -- any signs of lingering distress. Or maybe I'd drooled. The expression in his eyes was slightly unnerving.

I shrugged. "It's all right. I did, at least, feel safer here than in my room."

"You did? Good." He frowned. "Actually, Grace, I've been thinking -- when I'm not investigating this murder, Niles and Odin are usually at my side. You're the only member of the committee with no protection, and now four people have been killed. You should have a member of the Royal Guard stationed outside your room at night."

I thought of how noisy I seemed to be getting during my nightmares, and I blushed at the thought of the future embarrassment. "No. I'll be fine."

Leo's frown deepened. "Grace --"

"Please, no. I don't need protection. I never go anywhere without my weapons, and I know how to defend myself." I stood up. "Now, let's go to breakfast."

***

King Xander and Queen Kassandra weren't in the dining room, leaving me to eat with just Princess Camilla, Leo, and Elise. The two younger siblings spent the first five minutes bickering about nothing in particular, and then they lapsed into stubborn silence. I kept out of it, because I knew that as soon as I opened my mouth, both sides would be able to tell I was thoroughly amused. Princess Camilla, on the other hand, looked entirely unmoved by it all, although she did catch my eye whilst Elise was whinging and break into the smallest of smiles. I nearly choked on my drink.

Once we'd eaten, I went down to the training grounds in search of the ninjas. I hoped that my arrangement to train with them still stood despite any offence I might have caused when I'd disrupted their timetables the previous day.

When I arrived, only Emiko, Mura, and Kaon were waiting.

"Good morning," I called as I approached, my breath racing out in front of me like smoke from a dragon. "Where's Jin?"

Mura had dropped a practice sword by her feet and was in the process of winding her pink scarf tighter around her neck. She looked up and shrugged. "He didn't feel like training with us today."

"Jin does as he pleases." Kaon rolled her eyes. "As do you, apparently. I still don't like the idea of training with the suspicious Nohrian investigator. I think I'll pass up sparring with you."

"That suits me just fine."

"I'll spar with you," Emiko and Mura both said at the same time. They looked at each other. Mura smiled broadly and gestured for Emiko to go first, then turned the bouncy grin on me before trotting off after Kaon.

Emiko handed me a practice blade with more reserve. "I'm sorry about Kaon."

"I wasn't expecting anything less," I said dryly. "But what's Jin doing? Did he not want to train with me either?"

"What Kaon said is true. Jin does as he pleases, and we never know why. He's probably just skulking around the garrison."

"Do he and Kaon get along?"

Her eyebrows rose. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Yesterday, you said that no one knows much about Jin...apart from Kaon."

"I meant that they talk sometimes. He never talks to Mura or me." She raised her wooden sword. "Are you ready?"

I fell into a defensive stance. "I'm ready."

We stared at each other for a few seconds. Emiko lunged forwards, swinging her blade. I raised mine to block it, but I was used to handling daggers and throwing knives, not swords. It was a clumsy manoeuvre. Emiko drew back and hit my flank with her sword before I could react.

We tried a few more times until I was used to the length of the weapon I was wielding. Once I'd beaten her and she'd beaten me again, we paused for a minute's break.

As we stood and caught our breaths, she glanced at me. "I don't suppose you've ever been trained to look for tells?"

"Tells?" I repeated. "In poker, yes. I've never heard anyone mentioning them in relation to combat before."

"Tells work in battle just the same as they work in poker. If you're facing an opponent you've encountered before, they can be especially useful. In the last few matches, I've noticed that your tell is to narrow your eyes before you perform a movement that you're convinced will get past my guard." She raised her practice blade again. "Now, see if you can spot my tell."

Trying to pay attention to Emiko's face and the fight was more difficult than I could have imagined. But even without her tell, I was starting to hold my own. It seemed that with every match Emiko won, I would turn things around and win the next.

Then I saw it.

As we watched each other, waiting to see who would strike first, she blinked quickly like a startled mole before suddenly lunging forwards. I blocked the blow and tried to watch her eyes. She blinked a lot for a split second before she tried to catch me out by swinging her sword towards my legs. This time, my block came a moment sooner due to the forewarning. I was able to pull away quickly and strike.

After we'd sparred a few more times, Mura yelled, "Can we swap now? I want to fight the captain!"

Emiko and I drew away from each other, and I saw that Kaon and Mura had stopped. Kaon was wearing something close to a smile as Mura leaned against her. "Only because you keep losing."

"Kaon is the most talented of us all, by a long way," Emiko explained to me.

Talented enough to incapacitate servants so fast that they don't cry out?

"I think you spotted my tell," Emiko continued. "You were more confident towards the end. Remember to look out for Mura's."

We swapped partners. Mura beamed at me as she raised her sword. I watched her closely.

After a few matches, I thought that her tell was to fiddle with the hilt of her sword before she attacked. I was proud of myself for noticing it so quickly, although I suspected that she had seen mine the moment we'd begun sparring.

"Sometimes you put too much force into your strikes," she said after a while. "You always seem to fight like you're angry. It can be beneficial at times, but at others, it means that it takes you too long to recover and defend yourself when I return a blow. You're almost leaving yourself open."

I tried to swing my sword with less anger until Mura approved, and I found that she was right: I then had an easier time blocking her own strikes. Once we were done, I felt that I'd improved massively.

"Thank you," I said to her as we turned to watch Emiko and Kaon finish up.

"It's no problem," she replied with a smile. "I enjoy helping people."

Kaon swung her sword so hard that Emiko stumbled backwards. Her sandals caught on each other, and she tripped, landing on her back. Kaon raised her sword in triumph, then offered her opponent her hand.

Emiko was blushing as she stood up -- the deepest emotion I'd seen slip beneath her ninja's mask. She put a hand on her back. It struck me that she didn't seem to be quite as good as the others, and I felt a little sorry for her. Perhaps she hadn't been in the Hoshidan army as long as them.

"Are you all right?" Mura asked.

"I'm just bruised. I'm going to put some ice on it." She ducked her head and walked away.

Mura looked at the remaining ninja. "Kaon, are you sure you don't want to spar with Captain Grace?"

I held up my hands. "I'm too exhausted to continue. I think she'd easily beat me, anyway."

Kaon smiled in a very unfriendly manner. "Damn right, Nohrian. Goodbye."

As she stalked away, I looked at Mura. She sighed. "And then there were two. I'm sorry about Kaon. And Jin, wherever he is. I can practically see the gears turning in your mind as you wonder whether one of them is up to no good." She took my practice sword from me. "We're all playing poker in Kaon's room tonight -- even Emiko and Jin. Why don't you come? Emiko was thinking of asking you. Then you'll be able to see for yourself that it's a harmless hobby and no one leaves the room to murder anyone."

I thought about it for a moment. I did know how to play poker, and it would be a good opportunity to watch Kaon closely. Perhaps there was something about the late-night poker sessions that linked to the murders more subtly.

"All right," I said.

"Great!" Mura smiled. "As soon as dusk falls, the game will start. Make sure you're there!"

***

I went back up to my room to look over my notes again, and regrettably added Clara to the list of suspects, just to cover all bases. Then I drew a mind map of the victims with Queen Kassandra's name in the middle.

If this wasn't about the people she'd killed in the war, what was it about? Who else could she have possibly angered?

I sighed and leaned my forehead against the window. We needed the killer to slip up, otherwise this case would never go anywhere. I wouldn't be able to return home, and, more importantly, Queen Kassandra might die.

I was just about to start going over my notes again when someone knocked on the door. It was a servant with a message summoning me to Leo's study. I made my own way there.

Leo was sitting behind his desk when I entered, a book and two plates in front of him. "Grace, I thought we could have dinner together and spend the afternoon looking through Gideon's book."

I hovered in the doorway, unsurprised that I was only being consulted on this plan now that I was here and there was a sandwich on the table. "I never usually bother with midday meals."

"So I've noticed. Come in properly and shut the door."

I did as he'd instructed, although I took my time walking to his desk, drawn instead to the many books on the shelves. "What do you read?"

"Everything I can get my hands on."

I laughed and sat opposite him. "I suppose, given the state of this study, that sounds about right."

Leo glanced around the room as if he was seeing it for the first time. "You don't like the mess?"

"I love it. It's very cosy in here."

He smiled then, and I thought I saw relief spark in his eyes. "Do you still read?"

"Clara's been lending me mysteries, which I've enjoyed. I manage to solve the murders in those much easier than I can solve this one."

"I know how you feel." His face hardened. "We should get on with reading this. Bring your chair over here so that you can see."

I moved around to his side of the desk. Once we were sitting together, Leo opened the book.

Each poison had a page full of colourful drawings and information, and we read in companionable silence. Despite the pressure to find information that might help the case, I felt happy reading with Leo: the sort of happy that comes with a bed, a blanket, and a warm fire. I was comfortable. Cocooned.

We read about all the poisons that had been used so far and at least fifty others, including pixie, Gideon's favourite. It did nothing except show us how many other weapons the killer might have at their disposal.

By the time it was almost dusk, we had found nothing of use, and I was running the risk of being late to my poker game. Leo turned the final page and closed the book with a dejected sigh.

I stood. "We'll find something, I promise. I might even find something tonight. I have to go and get ready for a poker game with the ninjas."

Leo looked up. "You're going to play poker with them? No."

"Yes. It's a game between all four of them, and Mura invited me. Perhaps I'll find another clue. I don't know. But I'm not passing up this opportunity when we have so little to go on."

"They're murder suspects!" He stood up beside me, his eyes darkening. "And we may have the Royal Guard keeping tabs on them, but they'll be standing outside the room. If it turns out that they are all the culprits and they decide to poison you, it will be four against one. No one will be able to get to you in time. Don't go."

"I'm sorry." I turned away from him. "For the sake of the next victim, I'm not listening."