Aleksandra startled awake at the very rude and thunderous noise the prince made as he entered. She didn't bother to hide her frown. He wouldn't kill her for being irked, so there was no point in hiding her emotions from him. She turned away when he shut the door, ignoring him as she went about waking up. There was a glass of water on the small table beside the bed, so she picked it up and rinsed the crusted blood from her split lip, and drank what was left to quench her sudden thirst. She was, in fact, ravenously hungry. Slavers didn't feed their slaves well, if at all. So that was a solid week she'd lost not knowing if she'd been fed. She was about to ask for a meal when she turned, and the sight of an unarmored Aulfr surprised her. He looked almost hideously normal without the leather and chainmail. Not to say he himself was unattractive, but if not for the imperious look on his face and the set of his broad shoulders, he'd almost look like a common farmer.

She stood up and stretched, listening blearily to him as he instructed her on what to do. Saints, she was hungry. And how was she going to climb the side of his castle with that drug still in her system and a belly growling so forcefully that she trembled? She shook her head and muttered a few creative insults in her own language, stretching again to loosen herself. She rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes, slapped her cheeks, and headed for the window. "If I die, I'm going to haunt you forever. I'll haunt your ghost," she grumbled, switching to Noxan. "And I won't be nearly as pleasant as I am now." She released the latch and stepped up onto the sill, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh, chilly air. It was autumn, and a night clear as glass. The stars exploded above her in a milky, colorful tangle of light. A perfect night. She glanced over her shoulder at the prince, then gave a sigh and began her mission.

Finding the hand-and-footholds was easy. It was clinging to the side of the castle on no food and drowsy limbs that was the challenge. Still, she'd climbed harder in worse situations, so she carried on. She slipped once or twice, but never far. She was sweaty and breathing hard as an angry bull by the time she reached the roof. She dragged herself a few feet from the edge and lay there, recovering her strength. She'd turned an ankle and her fingertips were raw, almost bloody. But it was nothing she couldn't live with. She sat up and massaged her ankle until she was sure it was just lingering pain from the suddenness of it. Then she pushed to her feet and walked along the roof, looking for a way in.

The prince's room was on the third floor, and she was just above the seventh of the main castle. The towers extended far above her, but those weren't important. There was no purchase on any of them, and no close windows to climb into. Several small chimneys, but all of them billowing smoke. She didn't fancy being burned to death. Although she was sure she'd taste delicious with a bit of spice. No, her only way in was through an open skylight above someone's room. They rest were closed, locked, or unable to open at all. She made sure no one was in the room before lowering herself in until she dangled by her hands, and then she dropped. She quickly rummaged through the objects to look for a weapon, but there was nothing useful. So she left, looking both ways in the hall before rushing to a shadowy alcove.

The next hour passed this way, with her sneaking past guards, hiding in small nooks and under beds, getting closer and closer to Aulfr's chambers. She had to keep stopping to rest, her lack of food causing her the occasional dizzy spell. She was becoming intensely aware of the strong scent of food the closer she got to center of the fourth floor, and was so relieved to see the kitchens that she almost cried. No one in the kitchens would rat her out, or even have time to pay attention to her. She stood near the entrance and waited. A serving girl hurried out carrying a platter on her shoulder piled high with meat pies. Hidden in the shadow of the door, Aleksandra nicked two of them with feather light hands. And so it continued with the next three servants, until she was full. She was still munching on her second meat pie when she knocked on Aulfr's door, three times and then twice.