Saeldian filled another cup and handed it over. “I had my panicked escape plan this afternoon.”
“During the meet? No. On the walk back. You fainted. Lorzok caught you.”
“That’s when.”
“And you didn’t tell me? Even after?”
“Lorzok healed me. I was fine. Get him to spruce you up. We have to find them and tell them the new plan.”
“But they’re dancing.”
“Not a problem.” Saeldian swept one elegant hand to indicate the two of them. “We’re two retired, fabulously wealthy, successful ex-adventurers, and we can brief them while they partner us.”
Chapter Seven
Faith of Selûne
In Which Kell Smiles and Won’t Stop
That older couple was Saeldian and Jubilee in disguise. The majestic silver-haired woman gave Saeldian’s quick, fluttering sign they used to identify themself. The woman with the long scar on her face winked.
Saeldian was even better at illusion magic now, if they could hold one on themself and Jubilee at the same time. Kell tapped Lorzok’s arm and crossed the ballroom to bow in greeting. “I hope you are enjoying the party, Saers. Do I guess correctly that you would like to dance?”
“We’d like nothing better,” the woman hiding Saeldian’s true face said. “I’m Tevailia Trueshot, and this is my wife, Madenhal Dawnsinger.”
Tevailia Trueshot and Madenhal Dawnsinger? The other half of the Golden Guardians?Saeldian was out of their mind. Everyone knew who the Silver Arrow and Lathander’s Fist were. Everyone! “It’s an honor, my lady. Truly an honor. I’m dying to know how many of the stories are true.”
He offered his hand and pulled Saeldian to the safety of the dance floor before anyone could walk up and start talking. Ifanyone figured out those two were impostors, it would be over. So Kell put on his best starstruck smile and lifted his posture to impress.
“Tevailia” matched his step perfectly as he led the way to a space for the four of them. The moment the counterfeit ranger settled into the first dancing position, the music started. The musicians didn’t have singers, but Kell knew the words by heart.
“ ‘Bobbins and Skeins,’ ” Saeldian said, with syrup all over their voice. “My favorite!”
Saeldian hated this song. Would anyone overhearing their impersonation of Tevailia know whether that was true? Kell brought Saeldian to the center, where the four of them clasped hands, closely bunched together. The song about a pretty young spinner, the mason who loved her, and the jealous chancer’s daughter scheming to tear them apart sang inside Kell’s head.
Jubilee muttered, “Lover’s cross. I’ll tell Lorzok what we found.”
It was the right choice of dance. Lover’s cross—or the gossip wheel—was a dance designed for private conversation between pairs, whether for flirting or muckraking. Everyone danced with the other three people for one turn, then returned to their first partner for the last.
They laid their hands together, forming the cross, and turned in a circle while facing one another. Kell got right to it. “What do you know?”
“The gallery is a Conundrum Chamber,” Saeldian said into the small space between their smiles. They stepped into the circle, elbows, forearms, and hands meeting. “Divination spells on the walls, pressure-activated floorboard triggers with abjurations, and some kind of transmutation hidden in the shadows of the crown molding.”
Lorzok blinked in surprise, but Saeldian stopped speaking just as the verse would have ended withThen the dancers call, ho!
They all stamped their feet in a quick triple step and clapped. Kell broke the four-person figure to hold Saeldian in a cloak-step promenade and led them through a circle of steps that shuffled and twirled through the verse.
Kell tilted his head to Saeldian’s ear. “How many times can you change how you look?”
“A hundred times, if I want,” Saeldian said. “The perks of patronage.”
Saeldian had pleased their archfey patron that much, then. “A Conundrum Chamber. Suddenly, all of this makes sense.”
Saeldian’s grimace was an essay’s worth of agreement. They spun and came back to his hold. “No idea how Briona knew where to find us, both conveniently in Waterdeep at the same time.”
“We came into town for Waukeentide,” Kell said. “We’ve been here half a day.”
“Do you show up for every Waukeentide?”
