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  Klava pursed her lips. “Well…he’s their problem now. Or their Godmother’s, if they have any such thing.”

  “Definitely their problem,” Katya said firmly, getting the last little bit of broth from the bottom of the bowl. “After we bottled him, I saw that the writing had changed. Now he’s bound in there until he reforms. If he does, he gets out, and then they will have to deal with him.”

  Klava gave her a long look. “You know, I don’t know that I would have taken that generous a hand with him. I still like ‘Until the twelfth of Never.’ Or ‘Until all frogs become princes.’ Something like that.”

  Sasha thoughtfully ate his last bite of bread. “We do have to deal with the repercussions of being a Fortunate Fool,” he said, as Katya nodded.

  “Then I’m glad I’m a Godmother. I can be vindictive on occasion.” Klava laughed. “Now that you’ve had the edge taken off your hunger, care to come visit Adamant and Gina?”

  “Of course!” Swinging their legs over the benches, they followed Klava out to the practice grounds.

  There a number of would-be young Champions were hard at work under the direction of the two dragons. Gina was instructing one group in swordwork, while Adamant was patiently on the receiving end of blows from quarterstaves.

  “More wrist!” they both happened to be saying, as the three of them came into view. Both looked up at the same time, and all work on the ground halted as the students craned their necks to see who was coming.

  “Sasha! Katya!” Adamant reared up a little and arced his wings. “Oh good to see you! How do you like the changes?”

  “Impressive,” Sasha chuckled. “Anyone would think this was a place where important people came.”

  “Well of course it is!” Adamant said, grinning. “We’re here, aren’t we?”

  Gina cuffed him with a wing.

  “In all seriousness,” the emerald dragon said, slowly. “This is something that has been needed for a while. Not just a Godmother for this part of the world, and not just a Chapter House, but a place where those who are not human can safely send representatives to those who are. There has been some very interesting talk going on over in those embassies. I think we’ve done a fine thing here.”

  “If so, it was entirely by accident,” Sasha replied, and shrugged. “The way most things tend to happen with me.”

  “Trust to Luck,” Katya added, and grinned.

  After a few more pleasantries, they parted. Klava led them through the gardens, then paused, waiting for their reaction.

  Before them was a statue carved from a single piece of quartz crystal, of a young woman in a dancing dress, arms and face raised toward the sky. The crystal had been carved, and the statue placed so that the sun filled it with light.

  It was Guiliette.

  Katya gasped. “How—”

  “The Queen’s carvers,” Klava said with pride. “They asked me questions and made sketches until they got her face right. Then they carved the statue.”

  “It’s perfect,” Katya said quietly. And then she smiled. “If there is one single thing I am happiest about, it is that she freed herself.”

  Klava nodded, and they both gazed at the statue for a while in silence. The carvers had somehow managed to put on the statue’s face the one expression that Katya had not seen on Guiliette’s until the end.

  Joy.

  Finally Sasha cleared his throat. “If we don’t see the others soon, they are going to have our hides,” he reminded them.

  Katya laughed. “I think I shall keep my hide thank you! Let’s go!”

  Magda was holding court, so to speak, in the gypsy camp. She insisted on brewing them tea and told them firmly that she would not read their fortunes, since she never read the cards for family. She introduced them to most of the camp, people who looked so much alike that Katya wondered how Magda kept them all sorted in her mind, and then she sent them on their way after extracting a promise to come back that evening for dancing and music.

  Lyuba greeted them just as enthusiastically as Klava had. Although they had both heard of the changes to the mercenary company that had once worked for the Jinn, this was the first time they had actually seen these changes with their own eyes.

  The livery was now light and a dark grey and cotton mix had lightened the wool. All the men wore a snarling Wolf head on their tunics, and the company banner bore the likeness of a running female Wolf. Lyuba herself wore the same uniform as the men, and they all treated her with respect and as an officer—except for Piotr, who treated her with respect in public, and with relentless teasing in private. But she teased right back, just as relentlessly, and with the same good humor.

  They paid their respects to the Queen’s Ambassador. Sasha didn’t recognize him, but he didn’t expect to, though they both paid close attention to everyone else in the Embassy. After all, tomorrow the man who served them tea might be the Ambassador, and the Ambassador might be serving as a secretary. The Queen herself, it was said, would likely not be coming out of her mountain for a long while. Her appearance to put down the Jinn was a rarity, and it would take something even more powerful to induce her to repeat that incident.

  And then—it was time to visit the Sea King.

  The Embassy was half above, and half below the water, to accommodate those who couldn’t bear the thought of venturing below the surface. For those who could—

  There was a chamber where one could change into costumes more suitable for the half of the Embassy where, to be honest, the real work was done.

  “Well,” Katya said glancing at Sasha with resignation. “We might as well.”

  “If we do, we’ll at least come back to dry clothes,” Sasha pointed out.

  She nodded. Katya put on her old fish-scale armor, and Sasha something very similar. Then, after Sasha swallowed one of the seaweed balls that allowed him to breathe underwater, they plunged into the pool that led down below the surface.

  What the King was going to do when winter froze this lake over, Katya didn’t know. It might be possible to have the same sort of magic put on the place that kept the waters of the Palace warm and comfortable. That wasn’t her problem though, for which she was monumentally grateful.

  She found her father tending to dispatches, and the moment he saw the two of them, he left all of it to greet them.

  “I want to know everything you’ve been doing,” he told them, drawing them off to another room, as his aides tactfully steered petitioners away. “I know you sent me reports, but there are so many things I need to know! For instance—about that rogue witch who was changing the weather—”

  They talked for hours, it seemed, while the water about them grew dark, and the light globes began to shine. Finally he settled back with a sigh.

  “I know that you just got here, but there are so many things I need you to investigate—” he said reluctantly.

  Sasha laughed, and Katya chuckled. “I told him that was what you would say. It was just what his father said,” she replied. “You two are frighteningly alike.”

  Her father paused, and looked seriously into their faces. “I hope that you know that you are more, far more to me than just my investigators, my solvers of problems, and my Fortunate Fools,” he said, his earnest tone of voice making it clear that he meant this, felt it. “I have always loved my daughter, Sasha, more than anything other than my wife and her siblings. And since she loves you, you are a part of that. I don’t want you to forget that. Especially when it seems as if all I am doing is using you.”

  Katya’s breath caught, and she looked at Sasha. He looked incredibly moved. “I know that, sir,” he replied softly. “I do know that. But I also know that things have to get handled, and not always when we have the leisure for them. We both know that. It comes with the duty.” Then he grinned. “That said, if you ever find a sealed bottle at the bottom of the ocean and open it—you can handle what comes out on your own! And I am perfectly serious about that one!”

  The King looked at his son-i
n-law for a moment, and blinked. “I suppose it would be all right if I got a Champion to deal with it….”

  Katya raised an eyebrow. “With Klava here? What do you think?”

  After a long pause, the King cleared his throat. “All right then. New edict. All sealed bottles to be strictly left alone. There’s almost never anything in them worth bothering with anyway. Now, about this overture from Acadia—they claim they are having trouble with some sea creature they call a Kraken—”

  Sasha glanced over at Katya. “Never a dull moment, is there?” he whispered.

  “Would you have it any other way?” she whispered back.

  “Are you two paying attention?” the King asked abruptly.

  “Of course. Acadia. Kraken. Question as to whether we should investigate, or just tell them to talk to the dragons.”

  “Ah. Good.” He launched back into his litany.

  No I wouldn’t, Sasha mouthed at her, and smiled. She winked.

  Neither would I, she thought with contentment. Neither would I.

  FORTUNE’S FOOL

  ISBN: 978-1-55254-933-9

  Copyright © 2007 by Mercedes Lackey

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Worldwide Library, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

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