My friend quirked an eyebrow. “There’s not enough gold in Skorsa to make those slippers.”
“Then we can start visiting forges.” Noel turned to me. “But you realize that if you go out hunting, the odds are good he’ll come back while you are gone?”
I did. But—I glanced at the clock—it was late enough that unless Alan had slept far better than I after being evicted from the palace, he should have already returned. “We can send messengers with our location as we travel around the city and arrange to be notified if Alan arrives at the palace.”
“Then let’s go. There are a lot of forges to visit.” Noel opened the door to the hall. “I’ll make arrangements with the guards at the gates and meet you two at the stables.”
Noel hurried away, turning left at the end of the hall. Sam and I followed behind, turning right, toward the door closest to the stables.
“So, you and Noel?” I wasn’t surprised. My brother had made his interest clear after his brief trip to Skorsa. Since Sam had teased me on my first day in Skorsa, I had expected he and my brother would get along splendidly. Normally, I’d have allowed Sam to start such a conversation, but talking about something other than Alan was the only way I’d avoid a spiral of wondering why he hadn’t come back to the palace.
To my surprise, Sam showed no signs of discomfort with my question. He grinned. “Your brother is a very persuasive man.”
I snorted. “He is, but I suspected you’d make him work harder.”
“I return to Skorsa the day after tomorrow,” Sam said softly.
“So, this was only a one-time thing?”
This time, he blushed. “I don’t know. Now that it has happened, I admit I would like more. The village isn’t that far from the capital...”
“But still not convenient. It is a good thing, then, that I was planning to offer you a position on my staff before you left.”
“What?”
“I think you would make an excellent advisor. I’ve thought so since my first week in Skorsa. I need people I can trust working for me.”
“Mina, I don’t know what to say.”
“Promise you’ll think about it. You don’t have to decide today, or even this week.” I spotted a familiar figure walking down the hall toward us. “Speaking of my staff, Sam, allow me to introduce you to my secretary, Willow. Willow, I’m heading into the city; did you need me for something?”
“Oh, no, but Hayden and I wanted to let you know how much fun we’ve been having reading over the scavenger hunt cards.”
I blinked. “Fun?”
The fact that my secretaries would be stuck reviewing every scavenger hunt submission had been one of my biggest regrets in suggesting the event. I assumed the task would be tedious.
Most of the scavenger hunt had centered on finding certain businesses and obtaining stamps from the owner, but there had also been a card of questions about different parts of the city and what people saw. Willow and Hayden had reviewed the cards of the first people to finish immediately, confirming they had completed the hunt before the winners joined me for supper the same evening. But now they had to go through the rest because we had implemented a contest in order to encourage taverns and dining houses to offer free meals to the participants. One of the questions on the card was the name of the street where the contestant had dined. The establishments on the most named street would receive a purse from the crown.
“Oh yes,” Willow told me. “While tallying the various streets, we can’t help but read some of the other answers. One man put your name as the answer to every question. Another apparently saw a blue horse in the city. I think the most creative lie we came across was the card that claimed the first craftsperson he saw was making a pair of shoes out of gold.”
“Where was this?”
Willow’s eyes went wide at my sudden intensity.
Sam placed a hand on my arm and shook his head. “The question about the craftsperson didn’t require a location, only an item.”
I groaned. So close, and yet . . .
“But,” Sam continued, “most people only visited a small portion of the city, trying to find everything as close together as possible. If we see what other answers are on the card, it should give us a starting area.”
“Your Highness?” Willow looked between Sam and me.
“The shoes weren’t made up. And I am looking for the smith. Can you show me the card?”
“Of course. It is in our office.”
I turned to Sam. “Go tell Noel. I’ll be out as soon as I have the card.”
