“I didn’t say that.” I glanced back at the basilica’s dark, hunkering outline. “But what if we start with a shorter trip first?”

He pulled his paddle up, letting us drift. He followed my gaze. “I take it you learned something useful from the Magic brat.”

“The Council has Jackie. They’re keeping him imprisoned in caverns beneath the basilica.”

Gideon’s eyebrows arched high. “You want to trying breaking him out now?”

“No. I want to do some reconnaissance while the tide is low.”

“Why does the tide matter?”

“There are caves all over Inselgrau’s coastline... some not too far away from Fallstaff. Some of those caves have entries that are only visible when the tide is all the way out. I wonder if the basilica’s island is the same.”

“Surely the Council of Magic would know about any exterior entrances and keep them well guarded.”

“I think you’re right, but it wouldn’t hurt to look.” I squinted, as if that could help me see better in the dark. “I should’ve asked Brigette for a night vision spell.”

Gideon stepped down from his platform, crouching as he worked his way closer to me, and sat on the seat across from mine. He took both of my hands in his and kissed my knuckles. “I admire your passion and how, despite the very late hour and the fact you’re wearing a ball gown with who-knows-how-many layers of petticoats and whatnots, you’re determined to reconnoiter the Council of Magic’s very private and very guarded island on a dark and cloudy night.”

I bit my lip. “But you’re also wondering if I haven’t lost my mind.”

“I didn’t say that.” A smile played at the corner of his mouth.

“That was pretty subtle of you. I’m used to you being a little more direct and dictatorial.”

He said nothing but ducked his head and looked up at me through his lashes. He almost always got his way when he looked at me like that.

“You’re right,” I said with a huff, remembering my vow to take his counsel more often. “This little boat is no match for the currents on the ocean side of that island, and it’s too late and too dark, and we’re too defenseless to approach the basilica now. I’d like to come back tomorrow night, however.”

He nodded. “We’ll be better prepared.”

“And we’ll bring Brigette.”

***

I expected everyone to be in bed when Gideon and I finally made our way back to the Terrazzano. What I hadn’t expected was to walk into a room filled with blue haze that smelled of sweet, burning flowers.

“Mordid,” Gideon spat.

“Dammit, Brigette.”

I strode over to the girl passed out on our couch. When I yanked the pipe from her fingers, her eyelashes fluttered, and she grunted a feeble protest.

“I thought you were done with this.”

She snorted, and a lazy smile swam across her face. “Why would I?”

“Because it’ll ruin you someday.”

“My problem.” She had lost her spectacles, and she squinted one eye at me. “Not yours.”

“It is my problem if you’re too incapacitated to help when I need you.”

She flapped her hand at me. “I helped already. Now go away.”

Gideon squeezed my shoulder. “There’s no point arguing when she’s like this. Let her be.”

“What a way to make a first impression,” I muttered as Gideon guided me into my bedroom.

He grabbed my dressing gown from the foot of my bed and handed it to me. His warm fingers traced a path from the nape of my neck down my spine and back up, settling on the top button at the back of my dress. His touch roused goose bumps along my arms and shoulders and dispelled my worries about Brigette’s reliability. There would be time to fret about her later but not while I had Gideon all to myself for the first time in weeks.

He took his time unfastening my buttons. His fingers strayed often. So did his lips. My hands trembled as I slipped into the dressing gown, knotted the belt around my waist, and let my dress fall in a puddle of blue satin at my feet. I turned and faced him, and he wrapped his arms around me. Tugging me close, he buried his face in my neck and nipped me. I squealed and pulled away then crossed to the bed. Sitting, I folded my feet beneath me.

He dropped into a chair near the balcony doors, leaned back, and rubbed his eyes. He looked exhausted, but knowing him, I knew he’d never admit it.

“Nothing about freeing Jackie was ever going to be easy,” I said. “But at least we know we’re in the right place if we move forward on this.”

“If?” Gideon arched an eyebrow. “Are there alternatives?”

“We could still forget about Jackie and march on Le Poing Fermé at Inselgrau.” I snorted. “Me, you, Niffin, Malita, and Brigette will storm the halls of Fallstaff—” I paused and furrowed my brow. “If any of Fallstaff remains, that is.”

“Thibodaux and his cronies restored it. Fallstaff looks like it was never attacked in the first place.”

My heart climbed into my throat. “Y-You’ve seen it.”

He nodded.

“And Thibodaux and the rest of Le Poing Fermé are actually living there?”

“For the time being. At least until we take it back.”

I let my emotions—anxiety, longing, anger, fear, homesickness—out in a loud puff of breath. “It seems so impossible.”

“The people of Inselgrau are disgruntled, Evie.” Gideon leaned over and went to work on his bootlaces. “They’re afraid of Thibodaux and his thugs, but they’re eager to see them cast out. There are more believers there than you know, and a group of them are working to keep your name alive. Your reputation has grown in your absence—it’s almost cultlike, the devotion. You wouldn’t believe the stories they tell about you. There’s one about you and a dragon—” He stopped and snorted. “That’s what we need to tap into. That kind of faith...” He shook his head, and his expression turned dark. “Your power would be immeasurable.”

“Don’t say it like that.” I went to him and knelt at his feet. Smacking his hands away, I finished untying his laces and slipped off one boot. “I’m just me. I’ll always be just me.”

He set one of his big hands over mine as I reached for his other boot. “You’re a queen, Evie. A daughter of gods. You’re not just anything.”

I forced a smile and tugged off his other boot. “Then you’ll be there to keep me grounded.”

“What if that’s not the best thing for you?” He slid from the chair and sat on the floor before me so that we were eye to eye. “I’m here to protect you, not to hold you back from achieving your potential.”

“Gideon, I—”

He pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me. “I know where I come from. I know where you come from. Don’t think I’m not aware of the disparities between us.”

I pulled away, frowning. Anger warmed my cheeks. “Do you think that matters to me? Royal blood or peasant? Whatever gave you the idea that I give a damn about class or rank—particularly when it comes to personal relationships?”