Chapter 201

Avinia and Isla were combing too roughly as they took Kit’s hair down to prepare her for the evening’s visit from Jate. Kit couldn’t blame them for being more than a little uptight about the situation she’d created with her announcement after dinner, but she did wish they wouldn’t take it out on her scalp. The one time she’d winced, Avinia had apologized, saying it wasn’t done on purpose. Kit had to wonder if perhaps that wasn’t quite the case.

“He’ll be fine,” Isla insisted, though the dragging motion she made with the comb through Kit’s locks said she believed otherwise. “He’ll manage.”

“Yes, well, that may be true for the short term, but as soon as Rona regains her head, she’ll think of a punishment we cannot see coming,” Avinia reminded them.

“I poked too hard.” Kit’s eyes never left her own reflection. “I thought to get the dangerous blows out of the way at the same time. Instead, I upended the entire tree.”

“It’ll be all right.” Isla sounded less convinced every time she made the statement.

Kit nodded as best she could with both of them tugging on her head, but she was as certain as Isla had sounded when she’d made the statement, possibly less. “I believe it is time for the duke to leave the castle,” Kit said with caution. “I have heard he will not want to go, but if he can be whisked away tonight, I think it shall be for the best.”

“I will speak to him,” Avinia said as she took out the last of Kit’s pins. “I cannot promise he shall go, though.”

“It must be soon. This is all beginning to gather momentum now, and if my mother should actually make another effort to harm Eli, I will not be able to control myself any longer.”

“Do you mean the way you controlled yourself tonight?” Isla asked, receiving a sharp jab from Avinia’s elbow.

Kit didn’t know if she meant by making the declarations or the fake crying spell, but she didn’t question. “What I mean to say is, if my mother so much as makes a move to harm him in anyway, I shall lose my shite and come at her with everything I have available to me. Is that slightly clearer?”

“As a bell,” Isla replied, her face beginning to lose its color as Kit’s grew red.

“You must know there is folly in such an approach.” Avinia lowered the comb for a moment as she spoke. “You must understand that puts the entire operation in danger.”

“I understand that it puts the entire operation in full affect. So we must be ready to act. If we are not ready, we must become so. If we are ready and only fearful, we must overcome it. I shall not be intimidated by her when I know the law is on my side.”

Seph, who had been quiet up until that point, took a few steps over so that Kit could see her in the mirror. “I have heard from Eastbury. Forces are ready to march at our signal. Only, they do not know what that signal is.”

“Forces?” Kit asked, not sure what she meant.

“Yes. A group has armed themselves, a large one, though I do not know by what means they’ve come into weapons. They have a highly capable leader who currently wishes to remain anonymous, and they will move forward on the castle as soon as we let them know the movement is under way. I believe there are other provinces who have prepared to some degree. It is difficult not to be frightened, not to hesitate in the face of grave danger, but I believe you were right in what you did this evening, Princess. We can either talk about the revolution, or we can create one.”

Kit studied Seph’s face for a long moment, not sure what had brought on this change from the frightened girl who’d first come to serve her nearly two moon phases ago, to the woman she saw now, daring and bold.

“Could you get word to them what our signal might be?” Avinia asked.

“I could, so long as they had notice.”

“The flag,” Isla said, dropping her voice. “We should change it to red, and then everyone within eyesight would know.”

“It wouldn’t stay long before it would return to the colors of the realm,” Avinia replied, though her tone indicated she thought it was a good idea.

“It would only take a glimpse. We shall have them ready to see, a lookout.”

“Very good,” Kit noted. “Whomever has the task of changing the flag would be at great peril, though.”

“I would not hesitate for a moment,” Seph assured them.

Kit turned to look at her true face and nodded. “You are very brave, Sephorina. Very well, that shall be your task. And you shouldn’t wait to hear from me, my father, Eli, or anyone. The moment you feel the revolution is underway, you must make your way to the tallest tower in Wrenbrook and change the flag. Then, get away as quickly as you can. If you need to enlist the help of my guardsmen, you know what you must say to earn their confidence.”

Seph nodded, and despite the risks involved with the duty she had just volunteered for, she held a stiff upper lip, free of any sort of perspiration. “I shall go check on your other chambers, Princess.”

“Thank you.”

The viscountess left the room, and Avinia noted, “Who would’ve thought our shy Seph would have become such a daring individual?”

Kit turned back around so they could finish pinning up her hair in a loose style that would be easy for Jate to take down. “Not I,” she admitted. “But she just might prove herself to be the bravest of all of us.”