“He’s on our side.”
“How do youknowthis, Georgie?” Hildy set her mug down and leaned in.
George steeled herself before she answered, “I spoke with him last night.”
“What!?” the men roared.
Hildred only chuckled and lounged on her sofa. As with alltricliniums, the seating comprised large, wide benches arranged in a large U. Hil had claimed thelectus mediusin the middle, George took thelectus imus,typically the host’s sofaon the left,and they forced Dunstan and Burke to share the third sofa, thelectus summus.Elio and Greta hadn’t turned up for breakfast, but no one was worried over their absence. They’d told Hildy they planned to sleep in.
“He’s an earl from Selwas—”
“He spoke with you? What’d you do, show him a tit?” Burke interrupted.
Hildy chucked a grape at him.
With a snort, Dunstan asked, “You believe him?”
“Basically.” George offered a saucy shrug, answering all questions at once. She couldn’t help but wonder if Lord Yaranbur was listening in onthisparticular conversation. Last night’s revelation that her prisoner had gotten one over on her should have rankled, but it didn’t. If anything, she chastised herself fornotexpecting this sort of outcome. No stranger to spying, she hadn’t gotten as close as she was to wearing the crown of Domos without keeping her ears open and her face shielded behind a mask of indifference. Life had taught her the art of reading people. But knowing the likely-a-lord wasn’t going to harm her and determining whether or not he was a liar were two very different things.
“What did you learn from thislord?” Dunstan prodded as he plopped an olive tapenade into a pita.
Bemused, she explained, “He trailed his nefarious uncle up into Gramenia and wound up in Sorhaven. Isahn said—”
“You’re on a first-name basis?” Burke laughed.
“Are you seriously this gullible, Georgie?” Dunstan’s tapenade squirted out as he took a bite. How veryun-lordly of him.
Hildy hummed in approval with someone, George wasn’t sure who.
“Shut up,” she hissed. With an inward sigh, she glanced over at the ventilation in the wall. “It’s gorgeous this morning. Come, we’re moving to the courtyard.”
“What?” Burke flipped his hands, looking around in confusion.
“Grab a dish and your drink, let’s go.”
“Why?” Dunstan frowned.
“Because Isaid so,” George barked. She did need to talk to them about the situation, but she wasnotwilling to carry said conversation out in thetriclinium.
“Beciss,” the men whispered with a shared look.
Though she didn’t ask for more information, Hildy saw something on George’s face and jumped in, supporting the plan to move outdoors.
Once they were settled around a low granite table with matching stools, the princess held court.
“Elio recognizes him from Selwas,” she announced.
“No fucking way,” Dunstan replied.
“He got back early last night and came looking for me. Laid eyes on the prisoner for the first time, and called me into the corridor to let me know.”
Hildy frowned. “Bullshit. When did Elio see him?”
“Two years ago, when he went south with my father’s delegation. He called him Lord Yardbird, but close enough. Elio says he was a fairly new earl then, and he saw him at their palace.”
Hildy, ever the brave one, spoke up, “Georgie, this is not me challenging you...”
George raised a brow.
