True to Rieka’s guess, a polite but insistent rap came on the door only minutes later while she was still buttoning up her shirt. Shayla answered the door to admit Lorelai with a cart in tow that was stocked with a steaming pot of tea and a covered plate. The maid barely blinked at the group in her mistress's room that early and quickly promised to have more carts brought up with a proper breakfast for them all.

  By the time she returned with two other maids towing several carts laden with trays as well, Rieka was done dressing and all of us had found places to sit near the fire. While the two new maids served, Lorelai was quick to lay wood in the fireplace and get a fresh fire going to chase off the last of the morning chill, something that Kassandra thanked her for.

  As soon as the food was served, the other two maids made themselves scarce while Lorelai bustled about pouring tea and juice for everyone. Only once they were all settled in and nibbling on a breakfast of eggs, ham, and scones did the conversation resume.

  “Now, I want to be clear that this is just hearsay,” Valda said, delicately cutting her ham into squares. “But it came from several sources, so even if it is just rumors, they are persistent enough that it’s spread to multiple sources.”

  “Understood,” Rieka agreed. My princess carefully buttered a scone while listening, but I could tell she was paying close attention from how her pointed ears remained perked the entire time.

  I remained silent, listening to the discussion while assembling a small breakfast sandwich using one of the plain rolls that had been delivered to share.

  Valda was silent for several more seconds, focusing on her food. I noticed her nibbling at her bottom lip as well, so I guessed she was assembling her thoughts carefully before she presented the information she had.

  A glance at the other girls told me that, despite having come along to present this information to Rieka and myself, none of them apparently knew what had come up, or at least hadn’t made the same worrying connections that were plaguing Valda.

  “So,” Valda began. “During the party last night, I heard quite a bit of conversation going on. My people have very good hearing, a holdover from our ancestors that allows us to track multiple conversations at once in order to keep watch for threats even in crowded places.”

  Valda paused to take a bite of her food, chewing daintily and swallowing before she spoke again. The other girls all continued to eat and listen, though it was clear that they were paying close attention to Valda’s words. Even Lorelai, who was tidying up the carts in the background, paid close attention to what was being said if the way her ears angled toward us were an indication.

  “Most of what I heard was the normal sort of mischief that goes on at such events,” Valda continued once she’d cleared her mouth. “Who is sleeping with whom. Who has a mistress. Who got caught and who didn’t. Business dealings, bragging, and flirting. I already passed on the business bits to your brother, Rieka. Thomas already knew most of them, but one bit of information about a warehouse manager ‘vanishing’ stock off of wagons just before they left really seemed to annoy him.”

  “I’m sure it would,” Rieka said with a sigh. “I’ve heard him complain about certain shipments being short and no one knowing why since the drivers were well-guarded and trustworthy. I do not expect that manager’s life to be a happy one when Thomas gets to him, especially if their noble backer ends up outed and has to cover their own ass.”

  “Yes, well that wasn’t the important piece, just examples,” Valda continued with a wave of her fork. “More importantly was rumors on two fronts that crossed in an important way. The first being sightings of odd stone monsters increasing in the north-western part of the queendom.”

  That got a reaction from Rieka. My princess’ ears went up and she leaned forward over her plate to stare at Valda intently.

  “An increase in monsters, and of a specific type, is definitely noteworthy. It usually indicates either a nest forming, or a change in the ecology that has driven them from their normal homes.”

  “What kind of monsters were they?” Jane asked when Rieka paused to think. “I don’t remember there being any local nests of stone or earth monsters in the Coldeye queendom. Sure, there are some that will often tilt that way like the elemental wolves, but none that would qualify as specifically stone monsters.”

  “That was my understanding as well,” Valda continued with a nod. “I studied the local monster ecology quite a bit, as I had to take part in the commission training like you have, but went out on my own. My salamander bond and fire magic were able to fight earthen monsters, but were not ideally suited for it, so you might understand why it was important for me to know more about them.”

  “And monsters that were hard-counters for you,” I interjected and got a nod of agreement from Valda as well as a small smile from her.

  “Yes, and I hope that my new bond will continue to grow so that I do not have to worry about such,” Valda said brightly.

  I grinned back at her and nodded.

  “Not to worry on that front,” I said. “I happen to know that your new bond is growing very quickly and you are picking up his tricks quickly.”

  “Rumors of an increase in monsters is concerning,” Rieka said slowly. She took a bite of her scone and chewed methodically, but spoke from behind an upraised hand before she swallowed. “But I don’t understand why it is so urgent, unless they are terrorizing the populace. And then I would expect that the local lord would have it handled.”

  “That’s the thing,” Valda said grimly. “I heard a lot of rumors about sightings but none about actual attacks. Also, I know they are all about the same type of creature, given that the descriptions matched.”

  “What descriptions?” Shayla asked curiously. From the way the tips of her antennae flexed and Shayla wiggled her fingers, I knew my artistic lover was itching to try and draw the creatures.

  “That’s also something odd,” Valda continued. “I heard four different people give descriptions of the creatures, and they all sounded the same: stout, bipedal people carved of dark gray stone. None of them had distinct features of any races we were familiar with, though they looked like a mixture between an elf and a dwarf.”

  “You mean they looked like Liam?” Rieka asked sharply. Her words made the connection in my head click shut a moment later.

  “The statues,” I breathed, setting down my biscuit-sandwich without taking a bite yet.

  Kassandra was already glancing between Valda and Rieka, but twitched when I spoke. She glanced back at me with her brows furrowing in concern.

  “You mean the one’s from the Shadow Mountain facility, right Liam?” asked the dwarf lamia. I nodded in agreement and she continued, “the ones that were guarding the supply room. Golems that responded to verbal commands from Liam.”

  Valda nodded slowly, tapping her fork against her plate slowly.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “I would not be surprised if they were golems,” the lizard-folk woman said a moment later. “They definitely sounded like such when described. That they have not been attacking random passersby or villagers—if the reports are to be believed—also makes me think that they aren’t normal monsters.”

  “And you said you heard four different people talking about this?” I asked, getting a nod of agreement from Valda. “That would indicate either large numbers of them, or that they are in a very concentrated area close to main travel routes.”

  “North west…” Rieka muttered again, staring down at her plate with the half-eaten scone hovering above it.

  “Four distinct sightings of several figures that were made of stone,” Valda continued, apparently not having heard Rieka’s muttering. “What I heard was that they were seen moving amongst the trees near the edge of the road, but would vanish when pursued into the trees. I didn’t interrogate anyone for more information, but the fact that it came up several times was notable enough by itself. I know that the western border is the one shared with the Emirates, and that the Coldeye queendom doesn’t have a very good relationship with them at the moment.”

  Jane snorted and shook her head quickly.

  “No, no we do not,” the mouse-eared woman said firmly. “My family came from the Emirates, and Shayla’s traveled through there too.”

  The winged woman stiffened and Jane winced, which told me that information was not something that had been well known. Valda gave them an odd look, but Kassandra and Rieka didn’t react.

  I remember them talking about something like that from a while back, I thought. Something about traveling abroad back when we went to that western facility, the one that was hidden inside a hill and partially collapsed… Yeah, the traps there sucked. I remember we went incognito since it was so close to the border they were worried about spies.

  While I thought that over, Jane scrambled to push the conversation back onto topic.

  “Regardless, do you think it has something to do with the Emirates since it’s on their border? Maybe some new weapon, or something their scouts and spies are using to incite unrest?”

  “No,” Valda said without hesitation. “If it was, I imagine the creatures would be attacking traders along the road to incite fear or the like. But this brings me to the second bit of information.”

  “I think I can already guess where this is going,” Rieka muttered, scowling. “The north western quadrant of the queendom is where the Icefangs live.”

  “Wait, Icefangs? Like Josephine’s family?” Kassandra asked only seconds before I could voice the same question. “That has even worse implications.”

  “Like?” Shayla asked quietly, tilting her head to one side and sending a wave of her lustrous hair over her shoulder.

  “Multiple ways,” Rieka answered, scowling. Her ears were pinned back along her skull, showing just how annoyed she was with this nugget of information. “The Icefangs are already on the back foot due to Josephine’s actions earlier in the year. It does not look good on a noble family to have one’s daughter attempting to harm a member of the royal family. We all heard that Josephine’s basically been exiled from her family as a result, but that doesn’t cleanse the stain.”

  “And that stain will remain for years,” Kassandra added on. “It will taint their business dealings, their political standing, and their own policies in their lands. Because of that, it would be best if the family kept its collective heads down and out of the limelight so that people could be allowed to forget about the missteps of their former heir.”

  “So it might be sabotage?” Shayla asked, her wings pumping slowly behind her in thought. “Someone trying to further ruin their reputation?”

  “Possibly,” Rieka admitted. My princess continued to frown heavily. “It could be a number of things along those lines. Everything from someone attempting to discredit their ability to manage their own land by introducing a new type of monster, bandits or malcontents stirring up rumors to drive merchants away, or other nobles preparing to cause problems.”

  “And if the problem is from the inside their territory rather than the outside?” I asked, wanting to make sure that we covered both halves.

  “Then it could be anything,” Rieka said with a sigh. “The presence of new monsters in an area—if they are monsters and not constructs—could mean any number of things. That they are stone- or earth-aligned creatures from their appearance might indicate a disturbed nest in something like a mine or cave complex. But that they look like normal people? Specifically that they might be similar to the golem statues we saw in one of the human ruins?”

  Rieka trailed off at that and she didn’t need to say more. We had, after all, just recently gone to clear out one ancient human-era ruin that had been filled with weapons. If another like that had been found in the Icefang territory—a territory that was not in the good graces of the queen—then it could spell trouble if the duchess in charge of it found something that she thought might allow her to overthrow Queen Gemma.

  Assuming they are that dumb, I thought. No guarantees that they are that dumb. But also there are no guarantees they are smart enough to know better.

  “Yeah, none of this sounds like a good thing,” Kassandra sighed, tapping her fork against her plate.

  “I’ll bring it up to Mother,” Rieka said with a firm nod. “If there are rumors already threading through high society, then it is entirely likely that her contacts and spies are already investigating. But if word hasn’t made it back to her, then that would indicate a different problem.”

  “Agreed,” Valda said with a somber nod. “I did not want to assume anything, which is why I brought it up to you, Rieka. I don’t pretend to be important enough that I would be informed of every going-on in the queendom, but the coincidence of the reports and the location was enough I wanted to bring it up to you.”

  Valda caught my eyes across the table for a long moment before she looked away and back to the princess.

  “That they also match something you’ve encountered in another human-era ruin makes it more tense.”

  “I don’t know,” Jane murmured thoughtfully, drawing all eyes to her. “From what you described, those statues weren’t exactly peaceful. They threatened you for approaching, and the ones that Valda are describing ran off when confronted.”

  That observation made everyone pause, even me.

  I thought back to the encounter, remembering how the statues had come to life as we approached but then froze and reset when I had spoken aloud.

  “ ‘Traveler override,’ ” I murmured thoughtfully. Beside me, Kassandra began to nod slowly as she, too, remembered the event.

  “That always struck me as odd,” Kassandra mumbled, staring down into her tea cup while swirls of steam tickled her nose. “I didn’t question it at the time, since we barely knew what a Traveler truly was. But isn’t it odd that ancient golems like that—especially ones set to guard the room storing the most precious resources for a research facility—had something that caused them to shut down and allow a complete stranger to pass?”

  I felt eyes on me a moment later and shrugged.

  “No idea,” I said. “I didn’t know about ‘Travelers’ or anything about dimensional travel until the day Kass and Rieka accidentally yanked me out of my truck and brought me here for the first time. I haven’t regretted it since, but I had no warning before then.”

  “Best accident ever,” Kassandra said brightly, discarding her concern for the moment to lean up and nuzzle the side of my face affectionately.

  “And that just raises more questions,” Jane said, pointing directly at me with a frown. She would have looked more intimidating, if not for the smear of whipped cream on her nose from the pastry she’d just devoured.

  I tapped the side of my nose to let her know, and Jane blushed furiously before wiping at her face. To buy her time, I continued where she left off.

  “Yes, that is even more suspicious, that the ancient humans built in some kind of general override for Travelers. Or perhaps it was something else to do with how they created the golems, maybe they weren’t created by the ancient humans but instead were made by a traveler who built that into them as well.”

  “I… hadn’t thought of that,” Jane muttered, putting aside her napkin thoughtfully. “But still, it is suspicious.”

  “I’ll talk to my mother about it,” Rieka said firmly, giving her head a shake that made her ears pop upright once more like it shook away the problem itself. “Until then, there isn’t a reason to stress. I’m sure my mother will have things figured out soon. Meanwhile, we should be making plans to return to Juneau. I don’t know about you all but I am missing the independence of the school.”

  “Sure, the independence,” Kassandra said, giggling while shooting me meaningful looks.

  Rieka didn’t dignify her comment with a response, instead she just sniffed and dug back into her food. I gave Kassandra a wink of agreement, though. I, too, missed the privacy of the academy and space to love my girls openly.

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