It's strange how easy it is to slip back into our old routines. I return to my lessons with Lady Nyoko after having a few days to relax and spend time with Odeia. Duchess Helda, Duke Von Stein, and Duchess Tolmeizer are collaborating on Odeia's lessons so she can be crowned queen as quickly as possible. She felt that she had been away from society too long to jump into the position. We hope to have her coronation within the next month.

Four days after Odeia's return, Lady Avrilaya retired. They're looking for a replacement for her position as head coordinator of Royal Ladies' functions. Actually, Odeia asked if I would take her place, but I declined. I need a few more years of freedom before I take on such a responsibility. In the meantime, rotating ladies will fill the position. What I did request from her was training lessons. I limped the entire day following my first session with Lord Edgar and Sigvard. Muscles that I didn't even know existed felt sore.

A week has come and gone since I last saw Clemaina and Sewale, shrouded in shadow and iniquity. They've been locked away ever since. In two more days, I'll see them for the final time at their trials. I hope there will be more closure now that the right criminals are convicted. I want everything to return to normal, the kind that existed before Mother died. But at least one person will always be missing. I wasn't close to either murderer, but Clemaina was my sister. We grew up together, seeing each other most days of our lives for sixteen years. I don't notice her absence much, but when I do, it's like standing in an empty house after disposing of all its rotten furniture.

I finish the first half of my lessons just before noon. No more reading the palace finance leger; that monotonous task belongs to Odeia now.

"You may be dismissed for lunch," Lady Nyoko says. "Join me back here in two hours."

These extra long breaks will end soon, but I'm going to enjoy every moment of them while they last.

The others are already assembled in the West Wing dining room. Odeia sits at the table's head, her spine at a right angle with the chair. Years as a swan hasn't undone her perfect posture. She drinks in every dot and dash in the leather-bound finance record opened across the table—definitely more suited for royalty than I am.

Sigvard and Benno are across from me, as per usual. Sweat trickles down my brother's brow, matting brown hair to his head, and his face is drawn with fatigue. Benno, in contrast, isn't the least bit winded. He wears a crisp white jacket with two sets of gold buttons.

"No training today?" I ask him.

"No," Benno says, shifting a little. "I'm actually leaving today."

"What?" I exclaim. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We just received a letter from my parents this morning asking that I return as soon as possible." He forces a dry laugh. "I suppose I have been away from my duties too long."

"I'm sorry you're leaving," I say. "We'll miss you here."

"I'll miss you all, too."

I'm unsure of what else to say, so Benno and I just smile at each other while awkwardly looking at our empty plates. The servants bring out a smorgasbord of delicacies, meat, cheese, breads, and fruits. Sigvard rubs his hands together.

"This is perfect for a post-training snack," he says.

"Snack?" Odeia raises her eyebrows.

"Training makes me pretty hungry. You'd know if you decided to train with us."

I laugh. "I can attest to that." My first training session stirred my largest appetite yet.

"Perhaps." A smile edges Odeia's lips.

We don't speak again of Benno's departure during the meal. It will spoil the last moments we spend as friends, the four of us forever bound together by our investigation. The time passes slowly while we dine, to my relief, but speeds up at the end. Benno double checks that he's packed everything, and the four of us walk to the front courtyard. Servants carry his trunks to a carriage waiting beyond the palace gates. Only the gentlest breeze cuts the sunlight that warms my skin. It'd be a beautiful, bright day if Benno wasn't leaving.

Our procession pauses at the fountain in the courtyard's center. Benno is the first to break the silence.

"I'm going to miss you all. Hopefully I can return soon."

"Please do," Sigvard says. "We may need your assistance in another case."

Benno chuckles. "The next one needs to be less intense, more like 'who ate the last tea cake?'"

Sigvard elbows me. "We have the culprit right here."

We laugh, but it fades quickly to the fountain's watery chime. Benno shakes hands with Sigvard and exchanges a farewell with Odeia, making me the last to say goodbye to him.

"I'll be coming back soon," he says quietly. "Especially if my parents have anything to do with it."

"You think they still..."

He nods before I can finish. "Yes. You're a royal, we get along—"

"And their plans are a long way away from happening," I conclude with a laugh.

"Maybe," he said.

"At least a year or two."

"Friends until then?"

"Hopefully friends after, too." My gaze locks with his glittering black eyes. A strange tension stretches between us, one I can't seem to break. Then he steps back and does a half-bow. "See you in a few months."

"See you." I don't expect the tightening in my throat, making the last thing I say to him sound choked.

Our parting words play through my head. I don't want things to change between us, but in a few years, I may have no choice. I might have to make a choice, unless that decision is relinquished to someone else. My mind flashes back to all the "eligible royals" I've met in the past few weeks. Leopold, Leonard, Taurun, Myro—Myro is probably second best to Benno.

What have I become? I'm now ranking princes in my head. How ridiculous.

In two years, will I still find it ridiculous? Life has a way of flipping things on their heads. I have first hand experience with it. Two years from now, I won't be the same.

All the more reason to enjoy how I am now.

Benno waves one last time before steps inside the carriage's metal belly. Gold overlays the top and outlines a window, allowing me one last glimpse of him. Two white steeds give a whiny, and the wheels crank into motion. Benno inches away until his image disappears with the hoofbeats.

"I think we have another hour of break," Sigvard says, turning to me. "Any ideas about how to fill up the time?"

It feels wrong to not work towards a goal anymore. All I've wanted for the past month is to have my life back, to be free from excessive lessons and obligations. Now that I have it, I can't decide what to do.

"I know a place that might be of interest," I say at last. "The antique lounge?"

Sigvard's head drops backward. "Aylo, remember what happened last time?"

"Of course." I can't forget, even if I wanted to. "But isn't it fun to stir up a little trouble?"