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H

ermia listened to Alice as she asked Talen, “Why do you not trust Gideon with Hara?”

Talen glanced back disapproving. Hermia wasn’t sure if that was because they were talking while they were supposed to be sneaking through the castle or because he didn’t like the question.

He said softly, “It is none of your business.”

Alice snorted at that concept. “Hara is my captain and she is my friend. Gideon is my friend as well. He has treated me very well. He knows my history and yet he hasn’t given me any trouble about it. Not like you.”

Talen turned again to glare at Alice. Hermia didn’t know what incident Alice was talking about but Talen had been surly the entire time she had known him so she wouldn’t be surprised if he had offended Alice at some stage. “I thought you could do with the company. It isn’t like there is anything of quality for you to choose from,” he hissed back softly.

Alice said, “The fact that you think I have to choose is the problem, Talen, but you are avoiding the issue. What is it about Gideon that annoys you?”

There was a long silence as they made their way through the corridors of the castle, where Hermia thought Talen wouldn’t answer at all.

Eventually, he said, “He isn’t good enough for her.”

Alice huffed. “That shows what you know. You do know that he is related to the Emperor. He is rich and he is smart. Also, he treats her like she is royalty. You are just saying that because you really can’t find anything about him that is wrong.”

“He is an arrogant ass. He thinks he knows everything but he knows jack.” He snapped a little louder than he had before.

“Unlike you, who have spent only a few short years on this planet, you think you can know more than him. He actually knows more than you realise. He usually keeps it all to himself because it would baffle us.”

“How do you know all this? Is Gideon cheating on Hara with you?” Talen motioned for them to be silent and to stop. They moved back to a room and closed the door. They waited a while for whoever had been outside to move past them.

But Alice wasn’t about to be distracted from her conversation and she asked, “No, I’m not sleeping with Gideon. And you are an idiot on two counts for thinking that. First that he would do something like that and secondly that I would do something like that to Hara. No, he talks to Hara on the bridge while I’m there. The two of them talk about the universe and all sorts of crazy intelligent stuff. You never hear any of that because you are too busy sulking with Murphy.”

“I’m not sulking.” There was a long silence and Hermia thought Alice was right not to argue that point as his childish tone was all that was needed. Besides, they were getting to a part of the castle which was more populated.

Talen signalled they could move from the room. When they got to a junction, Talen was about to go towards the front of the castle.

Hermia said, “This way.”

She pointed to the large doors that opened to the library. Talen asked, “What is in there?”

Hermia smiled. “Something that will suit you, Talen. Treasure. The Duke has a vault in there.”

Alice asked with awe in her voice, “How did you find that out?”

Hermia shrugged it off. “I go in there a lot and there are some places where I can hide and no one knows I’m there. Once I knew the Duke was rotten, I thought I would spy on him. He was in there one day when he thought I was somewhere else and there was a vault behind some books. If we can get his wealth away from Lysander, then we won’t have to kill him but he won’t be a problem to the Empire.”

Talen agreed as he said, “No gold, no army.”

“Exactly.” Hermia smiled, pleased with her alternative to killing. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with bloodshed but she was happy to cause some mayhem in Lysander’s life.

Inside the library, Hermia showed them to the wall. “I’m not sure how to get in. I only know it is behind here.”

Talen dusted off his hands. “Not to worry, sister, this is where my talents shine.”

Hermia went to stand with Alice where they could watch Talen and the door together. Talen moved along the wall, tapping and moving things. It didn’t take him long to find something that was out of place and he moved some books aside to reveal a combination lock hidden behind them.

Talen motioned at them to be quiet and Hermia and Alice stood in silence.

Angel crawled to the top of Alice’s head to get a better view of what Talen was doing and Alice winced as the creature must have pulled her hair in the attempt.

Hermia was fascinated with the small creature. It was not a machine in her eyes. She had seen enough of the automata around the Duke’s castle to know that they were a far cry from the delicate creature that was full of personality and sentience that was Angel. Angel reminded Hermia more of a pet than a machine.

There was a click and Talen opened the wall that was the door to the vault. There was a small room on the other side, which was mostly empty. There were two chests of gold and Talen went to that. He lifted one with a grunt and motioned with his head for them to get the other.

Hermia stepped forward but Alice waved for her to stand back. Hermia wondered if it was because she was a noblewoman but then Alice had a bit more muscle than her.