I shouldn’t have been surprised to find Falak and Svieta waiting for us, both squatting on the steps leading to the costumes wagon’s rear door. A pair of lanterns perched on the steps beside them, casting harsh shadows across their faces. As Sher-sah ambled closer, they both stood, Falak with his hands on his hips and Svieta wearing a cynical smile as she stroked her chin. Her gray hair straggled loose from its coiffure in kinky coils, and she looked a bit like a hedgewitch from a children’s story.

“Welcome back, ladies,” Falak said when the princess and I had dismounted from the lion. “It’s awfully late for a ride, isn’t it?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to get in a little extra practice?” I asked.

The ringmaster slit his eyes and shook his head. “Try again.”

“It’s my fault.” Genevieve stepped up to my side with her head bowed, eyes pinned to the ground. “I....”

The same doubt that infected me had obviously affected her. Did we tell Falak the truth and risk him casting us out, or did we lie? And if so, what could we say to possibly convince him?

“We saw the tracks,” Falak said, giving us no opportunity to devise a story. Smart move: we couldn’t lie, if he never gave us the chance. “A pair of horses came near the camp and went back out again, followed by a lion. Coincidentally, we also discovered the two of you had gone missing.” He gestured at Genevieve. “I take it by the princess’s disheveled state that she was the subject of those horsemen’s interest. Bonhemmish horsemen, if I had to guess. Royal guards, perhaps?”

The princess glanced up at me. I shrugged at her—it was her story to tell. Her shoulders slumped. “They were my sister’s men. They had been watching us most of the evening, waiting for an opportune time to take me.”

“And what opportunity did they choose?”

Genevieve glanced at me again. “I was checking on my horse.” She pointed at the lion. “Sher-sah was with me, but I told him I was fine and sent him on his way. They took me while I was on my way back to the costumes wagon. I never saw them coming—they moved like ghosts.”

Falak turned to me. “And how did you get involved?”

I pointed at the lion. “His fault. I noticed she was missing and asked for his help. He carried me to her.”

The ringmaster’s expression turned harsh, and the muscle in his jaw flexed. “Then what?”

I licked my lips, swallowed, and shoved my hands deep into my trouser pockets. “Then, um, he attacked the guards. Really, I’m not sure why he insisted I come along. He handled everything quite efficiently on his own.”

While I talked, Falak’s eyebrows had arched high on his forehead, and he folded his arms over his chest. “He attacked the guards?”

My stomach swirled unhappily. “We left them on the road. One of them had a broken leg. We took their horses and released them a few miles back. Those guards won’t be following us, and they won’t be going home—not anytime soon.”

Falak leaned back and stared up at the stars, shaking his head. “Good gods, what have the two of you got me wrapped up in?” He returned his gaze to Genevieve and stabbed a finger at her. “When your sister’s army shows up here, don’t think I’ll stand in their way. I ought to send you home right now before she has the chance to come and burn this circus down.”

“Wait.” I stepped forward, hand raised. “I don’t think it has to be like that.”

He cocked his head and glared at me.

“Perhaps we could convince the empress that Genevieve isn’t here anymore. That either she ran away, or we haven’t seen her since the guards absconded with her. Let them think she was kidnapped from her kidnappers, or that she escaped on her own. Let Tereza think anything other than the fact that her sister is still here.”

The ringmaster scowled. “Why would I risk it? And how would we hide her?”

“You’d risk it because her trick riding will bring new blood and new revenue to your show. You’ll risk it because she’s a member of this family now, and you protect your own. Even Sher-sah respects that fact. And we’ll hide her with this.” I shrugged off my cloak and held it up for inspection. Falak’s scowl deepened, but Svieta’s eyes opened wide and unblinking. Her posture stiffened. Somehow the old tinkerer understood the nature of my Thunder Cloak.

The ringmaster had noted Svieta’s response as well. Falak turned a wary eye on me. “What is that?”

“My Thunder Cloak. It’s a cloak of invisibility—in certain circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“It requires full daylight for complete invisibility.”

Falak sniffed. “So, what good is it, really?”

Before I could answer, Svieta shoved an elbow in Falak’s side and babbled something in her own language. She stepped closer to me and held out her hands in a gesture indicating she wanted my cloak. I glanced at Falak, hoping he might translate.

“She says she knows what it is,” he explained. “She’s heard of it, and studied texts about it, but has never seen it herself.”

The tinkerer glanced at the ringmaster and said something else.

“She hopes you’ll let her examine it,” Falak said.

“As long as she promises to give it back.” I presented the cloak to her, and she took it gently, reverently, and hugged it close to her chest. “It really works, Falak. In daylight, she’ll be completely imperceptible.”

“But what about at nighttime? If the empress’s men show up here again like they did tonight, there will be no way to keep her from them. If they demand to search the wagons, how will I stop them?”

Svieta had watched us while we talked, her dark eyes darting between us. When Falak fell silent, the tinkerer tugged Falak’s sleeve. The two leaned close and talked in a low, serious tone. Genevieve and I gave each other questioning looks while they conducted their private conversation. Finally, the ringmaster nodded, straightened up, and clicked his heels together. “Perhaps, this is your lucky night, ladies. My tinkerer has suggested the possibility of a reprieve, but it will cost you both a great deal.”

The princess glanced at me, her brows knitting together. I shrugged at her.

“What do you want?” she asked Falak.

The ringmaster jabbed his thumb at his companion. “Svieta wants the cloak.” Before I could object, Falak waved me off. “A temporary loan for educational purposes. She’s quite certain, if she can understand its basic nature, that she can improve upon its current function.”

Images of Svieta conducting scientific experiments on my beloved cloak sent chills shivering down my spine. “She won’t hurt it, will she?”

“She says she thinks she can make it work, even without sunlight.”

I snorted. “Impossible.”

Falak peered down his nose at me. “Don’t underestimate her abilities. She can do things with Magic that most people would never dream of.”

“Such as animate your menagerie?”

The ringmaster rolled his eyes and looked away, refusing to answer.

“How can she manipulate Magic if she’s not a Magician?” Genevieve asked.

Again, Falak refused to answer.

“Fine.” I folded my arms over my chest. “She can take it, but she must swear not to harm it.”

The ringmaster muttered something to his tinkerer, and the older woman returned my stare and nodded. In halting Dreutchish, she said, “Ich verspreche.” I promise.

Falak turned to Genevieve. “That’s Evie’s price for my complicity. Now it’s your turn to pay up, little princess.”

She held her open hands out at her sides. “I don’t have anything to give you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. There’s one currency in which I trade that everyone from queens to beggars is in possession of.”