"So you're saying that a suspicious man has been chasing you? And he's waiting outside right now?"
Kel nodded awkwardly as Mae clarified the situation she'd just finished describing.
Given that Lucy had actually left Kel without so much as the coachman to watch her, it meant some of the emperor's people must be crawling around keeping watch. If Kel wanted to escape, to make a short rendezvous with Dash, she needed to go out a less conspicuous exit than the front door.
The problem, however, was that the excuses she'd so carefully rehearsed didn't seem to be convincing enough for Madame Mae.
"If there's even a chance the man you described is stalking you," Mae reiterated, "then it's even more imperative you stay here and wait for the constable. Kelsey!! Go get the consta-"
"No, no!" Kel waved her hands. "That's not it…"
