Vivienne and Lydia scattered from Princess Madeleine, and I saw them whispering to the other nobles. No doubt they were inviting the nobles into Madeleine's game of mystery. I wish I could take that back. But Princess Madeleine kept taking my arm and pretending to be an old friend. She rattled off innocuous things to me along the way. Her dog, for example, was so bloated from eating too much meat that she beat the slave girl who cared for it. Then there's her recent acquisition of new jewelry and fancy clothes.

Before I knew it, she was leading me down the long corridor until I was outside a closed...