“So, where is their knife?”
“You have no army left now in Hesse-Davia….” He sat up and swore. I put a hand on his arm to restrain him. “You are right, Aleksey, we need to get into the command tent. Would it be manned at night?”
“Yes. Or guarded, at least.”
“Then we must create a diversion, draw the guards away, and gain access. How long would you need?”
“I don’t know! I must read the plans, not take them. They must continue to believe their deception is successful. But all this may only be a miscalculation on my part. Maybe they have reduced their army numbers since I lived here.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
He agonized about this for a moment, then said, “That we have been played for fools.”
“All right, then. We can do nothing without planning. Sleep tonight, and we will work out a way to create a diversion tomorrow and put it into effect tomorrow night when the command tent is erected once more.”
“I must have time toreadthe plans, Niko. And study the maps. It will have to be a good diversion.”
I lay back down, thinking of various strategies. “It is a pity you did not bring Faelan on this mission. A wolf run amok in the camp would have been a nice diversion.”
“I beg your pardon, but Faelan does notrun amok. Besides, I could hardly bring him, could I? Prince Christian of Hesse-Davia is known to have a tame wolf, I am sure, even in Saxefalia.”
“It must be nice to loom so large in your own imagination.”
He did not respond to this but lay down, head on folded arms, staring at the tent roof. I turned on my side away from him and determined to sleep. It was not to be so. As I was on the edge of the long fall, he said, “Tell me, Nikolai, why you reacted as you did when I kissed you. I have been thinking about you all day and have concluded that someone must have hurt you once very badly for you to react so. Am I right?”
I kept my back to him. “I do not want to talk about this.”
“I had it so carefully planned, you see—that I would pretend we were going on a spying mission. We were entirely alone, yet still you thought it was a game as the soldiers play in camp to entertain their comrades. How could it have been, with no one to witness what we did but ourselves? Which had been my intention.”
I turned over to face him. “This was a ruse? This mission? To get us alone?”
He nodded. “I am losing my faith in my soldierly abilities. My plan was a resounding failure.”
“I wouldn’t say that. We are sleeping in the very heart of the enemy, now suspicious of his plans and about to have those suspicions confirmed.”
“I was not referring to that plan. I meant my plan to seduce you.”
I think my face must have given away my shock at his words. He shrugged. “I have nothing to lose in admitting it now—now that it has failed. I thought wrongly that you would welcome my kiss. I have never tried to seduce anyone before. I am clearly not very good at it.”
I lay back again to give myself some tiny measure of distance. “You seemed to be managing very well at the brothel.”
There was a distinct pause. “Doyouhave to seduce whores? I just pay them.”
I closed my eyes, more distance. “You are telling me your only experience has been with whores?”
“Who else would it be with? I am a prince. I can hardly disgrace my position with young women of court… who I would not have to pay… I suppose.”
“I meant… with men.”
He sat up, staring at me. “Men! I have never even considered it before. To be honest”—he flung himself theatrically back onto the bed—“I do not think I will again. It is far too confusing.”
“You are not… intimate with Johan?”
He turned to me, astonishment on his face. “He has alreadytoldyou that I am not! Hehastold you, yes?He told me that he had told you!”
I thought this confusing rush of words over for a moment. “Judas’s bollocks.”
He chuckled. “I like it when you curse like that.”
