Josiane could barely process the emotions that overwhelmed her as she saw that the rumors were true. Princess Thayet, even more beautiful than Josiane remembered, descended the stairs.
Jonsiane's eyes immediately flicked to Prince Jonathan's face. He didn't look surprised. He did look enraptured, like everyone else, but it was more than that. He looked downright gleeful, as if she were a gift just for him. Arrogant man! Stupid beautiful princess! Thayet had nothing to offer him outside of those good looks, yet that didn't seem to phase the prince when he rose to greet her.
And now, of course, Tortall had the Dominion Jewel, too. As if whatever this thing she was caught up in wasn't dangerous enough!
As the ball began, Josiane tried not to stare enviously at the other princess, but apparently, she didn't do a very good job of it.
"She isn't that pretty," a voice said behind her. "Men just can't resist a shiny new object."
Josiane blushed slightly at being caught but smiled despite herself. "I bet she's not nearly so shiny without that red dress and extravagant make-up," the princess agreed as she got a better look at the woman.
Delia, that was her name, Josiane remembered. She was one of the women who had still seemed to think that she could catch Jonathan's eye that Jonsiane and Alanna had gossiped about so maliciously.
"I bet she's even hiding outlandish tattoos under there. Who knows what goes on in that awful place she comes from?" Delia said.
Josiane was confident that Thayet had nothing of the sort, but she nodded anyway.
"Prince Jonathan is such an awful excuse for a prince," Delia continued.
"He led you on, too, didn't he?" Josiane asked the woman softly.
Delia smiled darkly. "One day, he was writing me love poetry, and the next, he was practically ignoring me."
"Poetry, really?"
"Truly awful stuff. Gods, I miss that particular form of entertainment."
Josiane looked at her quizzically. "You found it amusing, not romantic, even at the time?"
Delia looked embarrassed for revealing more than she had meant to but then shrugged. "I had bigger ambitions than love. I'm sure you understand."
Josiane smiled. "More than you know." She thought carefully for a moment. "Was it Lady Alanna he left you for?"
Delia looked at her sharply. "Lady Alanna, the dead squire's sister? He never courted her, that I'm aware of. She isn't his type…although I suppose she went on that mysterious trip with him…but returned engaged to that commoner." Delia's eyes went wide. "Was there a cover-up? Was she pregnant or something?"
Josiane smiled knowingly at the other girl. "No, it's even juicier. You know, I would love to read some of that poetry. Any chance you kept it?"
Delia smiled wickedly. "Come. This party was getting boring anyway."
"We need to get that jewel!"
"Jem wants a gem?" Claw taunted.
Jem just glared at him across the table. "Can you get it? You claim to be the best, don't you?"
"I am the best!" Claw snapped. "But I don't have enough information. I can't just start rummaging through the palace. And even if I did know, it'll be tightly guarded. Likely not a one-man job."
"So then get the information!' Jem snapped back.
"Your friend Cooper is the one who retrieved it, isn't he? He'll know."
Claw ground his teeth. "Didn't we establish that he's on the Conte's side?"
"You play ignorant very convincingly. Use that."
The next day, George and Alanna were riding to Myles' home when George saw the ugly thief wink at him from a horse going the other direction.
"I seem to have a visitor. Did you see the man who just winked at us?" George asked softly.
"I did," Alanna replied. "You know him?"
"You do, too. Don't look now, but that was Ralon."
"You weren't exaggerating when you described him earlier," Alanna said as she willed herself not to turn and stare.
"No. I'm going to see what he wants. Meet you at the house."
Alanna rode on as George turned down a side street to a nearby tavern.
Claw joined him several minutes later.
"You've certainly proved useful to your new society," Claw said as he slid next to George.
"You weren't wrong that I needed a new challenge. And this was a good one," George said.
"And then you hand it over just like that?"
"Mayhap, I coulda tried to keep it, but what would I have done with it? I'm already rich enough to buy anything I want. And now I'm forever in high standing with our fine monarchs."
"Care to help out your real people for old time's sake? Let us share in the challenge?" Claw asked.
"And how might I do that?" George asked.
"You must know where they're keeping it."
"You know, I didn't think to ask," George replied easily. "I've never been nosey with my buyers before. Why start now?"
"Come now; I'm sure you can find out. There's gotta be someone in your old line of work that you owe a favor. Tell them."
George laughed. "If our honored sovereign decides to stop by and have a chat with me about where he keeps his new toy, I'll let you know. But if you haven't been able to keep up a good information stream from inside the palace, I'd say you aren't doin' the job well."
Claw struggled for something to say, but nothing came.
"I'll give you this for free, though," George said. "There are two types of nobles - the type that likes to flash their treasures to everyone and those who like to keep them locked up safe and tight where no one can see 'em. By all accounts, Roald isn't the flashy type."
Claw nodded.
"But you are. What happened to the grand scheme you mentioned to me before?" George asked. "I'll admit, you may have caught my curiosity."
"It's delayed," Claw said. "New developments, you see."
"Ah, well, in that case, goodbye, friend. You might want to try to pick easier targets. Leave the really shiny ones to the pros," George winked and strode back to his horse.
When he arrived, he let himself in and walked into Myles' study, where Jonathan and Thom were paging through a book with the Jewel sitting next to it. Alanna sat across from them, looking bored.
"Anything useful?" Alanna asked.
"No. He seems to have been distracted by Jewel fever," George said as he picked up the Dominion Jewel. "Wanted tips on where you're storing this thing."
"What did you tell him?" Jonathan asked.
George began to spin the jewel expertly between his fingers. "That you don't trust that sort of information to the likes of me."
He tossed the jewel to Jon, who barely caught it in time. "That sounds prudent of me."
"Any luck with it?" George asked.
Thom continued to ignore them as he scanned a particularly dense entry in the book, but Jonathan put the Jewel in his palm and made it glow faintly blue as a small potted plant that George hadn't noticed before sprouted an extra bud.
"It responds to me, which is good. I'll admit I was terrified that it wouldn't. But I'm still not entirely sure what to do with it."
"It's been three days," Thom said irritably. "Give me some time on this."
"Are you helping?" George asked Alanna.
"I'm trying to give Jon his medical exam, but he's being most uncooperative."
"Correct," Jon said, looking back at the page Thom was examining.
Alanna rolled her eyes and got up, and left the room. George grabbed one of the books from Thom's stack and sat down in the chair Alanna had vacated.
Five minutes later, Alanna re-entered the room with Thayet behind her.
Jonathan immediately shifted his attention to the two women.
"Good news, Highness," Alanna said chipperly, "Princess Thayet has agreed to help me with your medical exam."
Jon allowed just a tiny fraction of annoyance to show to Alanna before plastering on a smile. "How gracious of you, Princess."
He moved obediently as Alanna commenced the exam and invented tasks for Thayet along the way.
Jonathan had to leave before long, and Liam had gone for a few days to visit fellow Shang warriors in another part of Tortall. The rest of them settled in for their new nightly dinner routine around Myles' table.
"Do you need help, Thom?" Myles asked after they reported little progress that day.
Thom sighed. "If I had years ahead of me to tinker, I would say 'no,' but if we have a sword hanging over our heads…maybe. Some at the City of the Gods have more expertise at this than I."
"Are they trustworthy?" George asked.
Thom nodded. "The students at the City of the Gods are being trained for service just as the knights are."
"Well, it certainly couldn't hurt to have more capable mages on hand," Alanna said.
Myles nodded. "I'll see what I can arrange.