When he heard the voices, he did not initially panic. They were not in his hallway but were approaching from around the corner, chatting. All he had to do was retrace his steps and slip back into the wall. The crack through which he had come was just… here? No, not there. Solid wall there. Down here a little farther beyond that table? No, not there either. The voices came from two women, growing nearer. Here? No, nothing but stone! He could not for the life of him find his way back into the passageway. Certain that the women were about to step around the corner, he yanked open the nearest door and dove inside.

As he strode across the room he was aware of a bed and a sleeping form in it. Still moving, he turned to confirm the person did not awaken. What he saw caused him to halt. He swung back toward the bed, tiptoeing, and looked more closely.

The prince!

For a moment his skin crawled. If he got caught in the prince's bedroom… If the boy opened his eyes and shouted…

The two voices grew louder. Delivegu set his sights on what he needed to find: a place to hide. He ran across the room and slipped behind the curtains that covered one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. There was plenty of room for him to stand unseen.

The door opened and two maids entered, discussing something that somebody had done. Delivegu did not have time to make sense of it, for they did something near the bed, said a few words directly-presumably-to the sleeping prince, and then someone else arrived. They greeted the new arrival with deference. For the next few moments he tracked the maids by sounds they made, tending to details of the prince's bedding, perhaps. Quick work. He heard them whisper a farewell. The door opened and they apparently stepped out. Whoever had entered after them, however, remained in the room.

"Oh, my lovely boy," a female voice said.

It was not the queen's, though it was familiar. He had heard it before. But where? She did not provide him another opportunity to figure it out for some time. She stayed silent. At first Delivegu stood stiff and breathed carefully and barely moved at all, but as the minutes passed he relaxed.

She'll leave soon. She'll leave soon.

Later still, he thought, I hope she doesn't fall asleep.

She did not. Every now and then, he could hear just enough faint noise to indicate movement, a creak of weight on the bed, breath inhaled through the nose and expelled as a gust through the mouth. He imagined her stroking the boy's hand, gazing down into his face, concerned. Reasonable enough. He still wished he knew who the woman was. A suitor, perhaps? Did a boy so young have suitors?

Well, he is a prince, Delivegu mused. Probably has a gaggle of suitors. The lad is handsome, as well. Prince, I hope you know how to use those good looks in the years to come. Had I your title… Oh, the damage I'd have done to the nation's virgins. Hardly bears thinking about…

The woman spoke. He heard her clearly enough, and lost interest just as quickly. She was saying emotional, womanly things about how good the boy was and how the dragon creature had loved him. He listened with half his attention, until she said something that pulled him back.

"I have something to tell you about Elya."

With that he placed the voice. Princess Mena, she who had ridden in on that dragon creature, slipped off, and spoken so casually to the queen.

"You can't tell anybody. You have to promise. I mean it. Promise."

Silence for a moment. Delivegu had half a mind to step out from behind the curtain and point out that the boy was unconscious. If you wait for a response, you might be there awhile, Princess.

"Okay. Since you promise…" A few more words slipped by without taking shape, and then, "You can't even tell your mother."

Delivegu perked up.

"She wouldn't understand. She-well, it's not easy bearing her responsibilities. It makes one hard, skeptical, always looking for the ill that hides beneath any good. Sometimes I think that the more you look, the more you find. The more you look, the more you create the things you most fear."

The princess said something else under her breath. She must have looked down and cursed into her hand, not liking the direction of her own words. Delivegu was already calculating the value of what he had heard. A bit of criticism spoken to an unconscious boy? Value: naught. Give us something more, he thought.

"This is only for you to know," Mena said. "Elya has laid eggs. Four of them. Oh, you would so love to hold them. And you will. Once you're better, you'll come to my quarters and I'll show you them."

That was the chance event that brought Delivegu to the queen's offices and had him standing before Rhrenna, so pleased with himself that he felt no need to rush to answer her. He would not be describing the circumstances of the encounter in detail, nor discussing the rather troublesome time he had had escaping the royal quarters later that night. He would, however, offer information he would claim to have gleaned from his ever-reliable "sources." It would be easy enough to lay the information on one of Mena's maids, someone who might have chanced upon the eggs, and might have told someone else, who might have told… that sort of thing.

"For what reason do you want an audience with the queen?" Rhrenna asked, repeating the question for a third time. She kept her voice clipped and her gray Meinish eyes cold, but Delivegu knew better.

His smile was an unwavering crescent, and his talent for talking through it long practiced. "Rhrenna, now that I'm a man in high standing I feel inclined to boldness. When, my darling, will you consent to get to know me better? Privately, I mean. Just you and me. Wine perhaps. Good food and a place of comfort to retire to? That sort of thing."

Rhrenna studied him a moment before answering. "Don't you mean that question for the queen?"

"Ah-" He had not expected that. It set him back a moment, wondering if the fact that she asked it indicated the queen had spoken to her about it, or that she intuited the queen would be receptive. "Ah… what man could fail to find her highness a great beauty? I'm no different. But the queen would have no interest in me, certainly." Though the sentence was declarative, he left it dangling, loose ended, and rather sounding like a question. Rhrenna's answer was franker than he wished for.

"You don't stand a chance," she said. "Enjoy your lecherous thoughts of her in private, Delivegu. That's the only way you'll find satisfaction. I mean no insult, though. I'm of the opinion that no man except Aaden-when he becomes a man-will ever get near the queen's heart."

"And what of you, then? Would you ever try me?"

"Try you?" Rhrenna laughed. "Oh, you're a charmer, Delivegu. Try you…" She spun away and resumed perusing the papers on her desk.

Well, that didn't go that well, he thought. He was preparing a witty remark, something to brush her off and indicate no acknowledged harm to his sensualist's casual demeanor, when she continued.

"Yes, I imagine I would try you," she admitted. Her eyes rose to meet his. "I think you smell rather good."

Never had the mention of his bodily odor been such an invigorating kick in the groin. She did not let him linger on it at present, though. "Again," she said, her voice resuming its official curtness, "for what reason do you wish an audience with the queen? If you don't answer me now, you'll have to leave."

She likes changing gears, this one. Fine. I won't complain. In fact, Delivegu felt like purring, such was the pleasure of his position. "Once again, I have intelligence for her," he said, "news that she may find very, very interesting. I have word that something important is about to… hatch. Four things, in fact. Four things that someone has kept hidden from her."