Nina turned to Prince Rasmus and bit her lip. “Do you really believe Ravka has a bastard sitting the throne?” she asked in scandalized tones.
“You saw Demidov. He’s said to be the spitting image of the deposed king. If that’s true, I’m not surprised his wife strayed.”
Nina decided to try a different approach. “Perhaps she was wise to. I’ve heard Nikolai Lantsov is quite the leader, beloved by rich and poor alike.”
“Oh yes,” said Hanne, catching on. “He fought in the wars himself. As infantry, not an officer! And word has it he’s also an engineer—”
“He’s a coarse fool without a drop of Lantsov blood in him,” Rasmus snapped.
“Hard to prove, though,” said Nina.
“But we have his whore mother’s letters.”
“Are they locked up in some magical vault?” said Hanne.
“Or maybe in the prison sector,” added Nina. Now, that would be glorious. Nina knew the plan of the prison inside and out.
The prince shook his head. “The prison had a security breach a while back, though no one likes to talk about it. No, your dear papa has taken on the duty of guarding Queen Tatiana’s letters. Of course no one else would be trusted with the task.”
Could they possibly be under the very roof Nina slept beneath? “Then—”
“They’ve been neatly tucked away in the drüskelle sector. I haven’t gotten so much as a peek at them. I hear they’re very racy. Maybe Joran will sneak a look and memorize some juicy passages for us.”
The drüskelle sector. The most secure, unbreachable part of the Ice Court, crowded with witchhunters and wolves trained to hunt Grisha.
Nina sighed and reached for a piece of rye toast. Since she seemed to be headed for utter calamity, she might as well enjoy the food.
* * *
Hanne didn’t even wait for them to be behind closed doors before she whispered furiously, “I know what you’re going to do. You cannot break into the drüskelle sector.”
Nina kept a smile on her face as they headed into the little conservatory in the Brum family quarters. “I can. And you have to help me.”
“Then let me go with you.”
“Absolutely not. I only need you to draw me a plan, talk me through the security protocols. Your father must have brought you there.”
“Women aren’t permitted in that sector of the Ice Court, not inside the buildings.”
“Hanne,” Nina said disbelievingly. “Not even when you were a child?”
“If you’re caught there—”
“I won’t be. This is my chance to help stop a war. If Fjerda doesn’t have those letters, the case for deposing King Nikolai will crumble.”
“You think that’s enough to stop my father?”
“No,” Nina admitted. “But it will mean greater support for Nikolai from Ravka’s nobility. It will be one less thing for him to overcome.”
“Even if I drew you a plan, how would you get inside? The only entrance to the drüskelle sector is through the gate in the ringwall, and they added additional security after the prison break two years ago.”
Hanne had a point. Nina would have to leave the Ice Court entirely and then reenter through the heavily armed gate that led to the kennels and the witchhunters’ training rooms and quarters.
“You’re telling me your father leaves the Ice Court every time he needs to see his troops? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“There’s another way, but it means crossing the moat. It’s only ever used at Hringk?lla initiation and during emergencies. Someone on the inside would have to let you in. Not even I know how it’s done.”
The secret path. Matthias and Kaz had used it during the Ice Court heist, but it left anyone trying to cross the ice moat badly exposed. Nina looked out at the buildings of the White Island, the glowing face of the Elderclock.
“Then I’ll have to go out before I can get back in. On the day of the royal hunt.” That would give Nina two days to make this work. A plan had already started to take shape in her mind. She’d need to signal the Hringsa and request a bottle of scent from the gardener.
Hanne groaned. “I was hoping we could make an excuse to get out of that.”
“I thought you’d leap at the chance to ride again.”
“Sidesaddle? In pursuit of some poor stag no one intends to eat so some podge can put his antlers on a wall?”
“We can talk the prince into giving the meat to the poor. And think of sidesaddle as … a challenge?”