She pursed her lips, waiting for Abel to look even more like a water soaked pup. Then her face finally softened and she nodded. Eyes brightening.

Gretal let go of Hansel and enthusiastically threw her arms around her husband.

Hansel turned away. Unable to bear seeing her kiss that buffoon.

There was only one good thing about it all, and that was Gretal was no longer putting herself in dangerous situations. She was too busy playing a lady for that.

He noticed Aka watching with raised eyebrows. And a mischievous smile that made him nervous.

Deliberately, the annoying woman put the statue back on the mantel.

“Are you going to introduce me? Or should I pretend not to be here?”

Startled, Gretal let Abel go and spun toward the other woman. She gaped for about two seconds, then turned an angry eye on her husband.

“Who is this!?”

“My guest.” Hansel raised a hand to get her attention. He may not like their marriage, but he wouldn’t hurt his sister by letting Abel ruin it. “She’s only staying tonight. We’re taking her to the station in the morning.”

“If I’m not already gone,” said the woman sweetly.

Abel covered his mouth and coughed on a laugh while Hansel glared at her.

Gretal humphed and crossed her arms. She took two firm strides forward and shoved her nose into Aka’s face. Giving the woman a hard examination.

“What’s your interest in my brother?”

Abel couldn’t hide his snort of laughter this time.

“Gretal!”

“Stay out of it, Hansel. I need to check her intentions if she’s hanging around you.”

“Hansel? Gretal?” The woman got a funny look on her face. “Those are your names?”

“Yes. Now, answer my question.”

The funny look didn’t disappear for a couple of seconds. Then Aka laughed and shook her head.

“Of course they are.”

She took a step back to give herself some room, and she bowed.

“My intention is to poke, prod, needle, and otherwise make myself a nuisance. Until he’s so fed up with me that he begs me to run away.”

Abel fell onto the nearest couch. Laughing helplessly.

“I thought,” said Hansel through gritted teeth, “we had a truce.”

“Broken at the train station. Sorry.”

Gretal looked between the three of them, eyebrows raised and arms still crossed. She pursed her lips and finally dropped her arms with a smile.

“She’s a prisoner,” Gretal announced.

“The name’s Aka.” The annoying woman held out a hand, winced, and dropped it. Instead, she awkwardly bowed her head again. “Pleased to meet you.”

“What did you do to get dragged around like this?”

Aka shrugged and smiled. “I pissed off a couple of mimes. This place is beautiful. Did you decorate it?”

The women fell into a conversation about curtains and architecture. Leaving Hansel to sit down and sigh.

He couldn’t relax, though. Any moment he was sure she’d run again.

“Oh, Hansel, Abel.”

“Yes, my darling?”

Hansel inwardly groaned.

“Captain Farbrace sent a message. It’s sitting on the hall table. Do you want it now?”

Before Abel could react, Hansel jumped to his feet.

“Watch her,” he commanded. Then strode from the room.

Alone in the front hall, he opened the letter.

“They’ve made a move on the most recent threat to His Majesty. Please report to the station as soon as you receive this. Bring the Jester.”

Hansel raised an eyebrow.

So far the threats had been just that. Threats. There’d been no curses, no hints, no clues to work with.

They’ve made a direct move now?

Since the only message he’d sent to Farbrace was to inform him of their return (with no details), asking for the Jester suggested that the Captain and the King had been communicating. Possibly even piecing together what had happened based on Blissburg’s report.

He sighed.

“Change of plans,” he announced as he walked back into the sitting room. “We’re going to the station tonight.”

“But the people we need aren’t there until morning.”

Reluctantly, Abel stood up.

Hansel held up the letter. “Orders.”

He turned to where the women had been a moment ago and froze. “Where are they?”

“Miss Aka asked if Gretal had an old dress to spare. They went upstairs-”

“You were supposed to guard her!”

Hansel spun around, sprinted out the door, and toward the stairs.

Not that he doubted Gretal could handle Aka. She could handle a clumsy woman just fine. But not if Gretal wasn’t prepared to. And he doubted Abel had thought to tell her the other woman was prone to running.

He burst into Gretal’s dressing room and both women looked up from the garment they were inspecting together.

“Excuse me,” said Gretal coldly. “There is such a thing as knocking.”

“Yes. What if I’d been naked?” Aka fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Unless that’s what you were trying to do?”

His face burned, and he hastily backed up to close the door. Staring at the doorknob, he grimaced.

“We need to go,” he called. “So hurry up.”

“That’s my brother,” he heard Gretal say with exaggerated patience. “Rude as ever. I’d be worried if that ever changed.”

He took a few more steps back and waited with his arms crossed. Where he could see them leave but not where he could hear them.

A moment later, they came out.

“What do you think?”

Miss Aka spun around, letting the skirt of the new dress flare out like a mushroom.

The odd clothes Aka had been wearing earlier had been worn out and too small. And Gretal wasn’t an exact match to Aka. Epecially since his sister had recently gained weight and was half a hand taller than the other woman. But they were fairly close and only someone with a good eye would notice the way her laces were bunched up a little more than they should.

Overall, this was better.

Much better.

And there was something else… Miss Aka had always been pretty but wearing something decent helped enhance the effect… and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

He didn’t have time to feel anything about that.

So he grounded himself by thinking, now if only she’d done something about those ratty shoes.

“It’s fine,” he said, after too long a pause. “We need to go.”

“What about my things?” asked Aka cautiously as she and Gretal followed him downstairs.

“I don’t know if you’ll be coming back here or going to a safe house. Either way, I’ll make sure you get your things back.”

“Is this some sort of strategy to keep me from running?”

He looked back at her and for the first time a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

“No. But now that I remember how attached you are to your instrument, I might use that.”

Did he just win a point in this competition? He felt like it when her face twisted in disgust and she crossed her arms to pout.

Such a child.

A child he might get rid of sooner than he expected. That thought gave him a bounce to his step.

Amourville was far busier at night than Blissburg. With the streets semi-full, it took them a half hour to get to the station. And they waited another ten minutes to pull out up front before Hansel impatiently opened the door and motioned for them to just get out there.

He saw Aka’s glance dart toward the nearest alleyway and he grabbed her by the upper arm.

“I wasn’t going to run!”

“Good. Otherwise I might have to cuff you again.”

She huffed and shook his hand off.

It was not a good sign that the station was busy after hours. In a big city like this, there was always criminal activity no matter the time of day. But with their bans and monitoring on magical activity, it was usually the human-based crime police station that was busy all hours of the night.

Hansel pushed the door open for his companions, studying the busy receiving room with his lips grimly pressed together.

There was a mix of people present, but the person who was center stage was an aristocratic woman. (Gretal would probably know her and Abel might know her… maybe…) 

She was yelling at the officer at the front desk.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here?! I demand to see your superior.”

“I’m sorry, Lady Avertine, the Captain is in a meeting. I’ll be sure-”

 She slapped the man.

“Don’t give me any excuses! You tell him right now that I’m here and I won’t be turned away. You cannot arrest a nobleman without consequences! And by fairy dust I intend to bring whole House on your heads if you don’t bring me your superior!”

“What scorpion stung her heel?” said Aka. Too loudly.

The people nearest to them winced and took a step back.

The woman turned slowly, emphasizing her glare as she looked at Aka.

“Who dares interrupt me?”

Aka crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. Before she could make the situation worse, Hansel grabbed Aka’s shoulder and pulled her behind him. But it was Abel who answered.

Abel bowed.

“Apologies, my lady. I’ll be sure to reprimand my prisoner.”

“And you are?”

“I am Agent Abel Vancout, my lady. This is my partner, Agent Hansel Miller.”

Her expression flickered in recognition.

“Miller, you say? You’re the one who turned down a title, yes?"