Amongst Thieves

22.

Maize didn't sleep, not as the thought of Laris meshed with her plans for the next three days.

She wouldn't go down to see them off either. Ress was supposed to be no more than a servant traveling with the others to assist where he could with the preparations. No other lord or lady would be present to see off their personal servants, so her presence would be too suspicious. Ress would understand. He had his own tasks to see to, just as she did.

Nor did she want to potentially cross paths with Cade. The less she saw of him, the better, and she hoped Laris was true to his word.

That she wanted to go out to see Laris off concerned her the most. But she remained where she was. It would have brought more attention to her and even more questions would arise if anyone saw them together now- she'd rather play that part when he returned from the Hunt, just as she promised.

But how much of a part was she truly playing? Laris was a decent man, and she had no ill intentions towards him. Not to mention, with him the voice seemed to quiet, as if it was afraid he would hear. And it was a comfort Maize could only know when she was drugged with the herbs. She was being foolish- she knew she was. Laris was the Prince. She was a thief from the Den. She was there to find Lusciana's Legacy and bring it to Forge for the agreed-upon price. It was what she knew, and what she was good at. And it would finally be enough for her to escape the living hell that had become her life and try to return to a normalcy she hadn't felt in the last three years.

They just needed to get through eleven more days.

The one person she made sure she saw off was none other than Lawson Forge. From the window at the end of her hallway, she had a view of the front of the castle, from the circular driveway to the main gates and the wooded lands beyond the city where the hunt would take place. She saw the king's carriage, where he was joined by Laris. She saw the advisors' coaches not far behind, and then the respective lords and their entourages to follow. She watched Lawson Forge, dressed in his black leather hunting gear and cape, climb into one of the advisors' coaches, but he gave the castle one final glance back before he did. As if leaving it behind for three days was the last thing he wanted to do.

He wasn't wrong.

As soon as the final coach and carriage and entourage was gone through the castle gate, Maize moved. Retreating to her room, she tossed off the dress she had put on to reveal her own leather armor underneath. Searching through her trunk, she donned the new gloves Celese had given her, remembering that she needed to send the Denmother one more note to let her know the fate of Ress's aunt and their return in a fortnight. She also strapped on her knife belt, complete with her thieves kit and lock picks.

Tying her hair up in a tail, she wrapped her cloak around her shoulders and departed. She clung to the walls, to the servant staircases, to the more unused and untraveled hallways she'd been able to discern in her travels. She didn't want to make her purpose too obvious but also didn't want to make it look like she didn't belong there. Ideally, she'd have been up on the rooftops of the castle and grappled her way down, but without Ress there to hold the rope, she'd have to do it this way.

If not for Ress, she'd also have no idea which room she needed to raid, and precious time would be wasted picking the lock of every room on the advisors' floor. Thankfully, he had himself a diagram of each room in the castle for all servants and visiting footmen to refer to so as not to get lost and to be able to assist with the castle's servants as needed. It was that folded piece of paper he had presented her when last they spoke, and with that knowledge tucked away in her belt, she was able quickly to determine which room was Forge's and made quick work of getting herself there as soon as she was able.