Handy left the room and walked back along the colonnade as the gaggle of flunkies and guards crowded by him to get to their errant king. He thought about the deal he had just made. It did give him a rather unreasonable amount of freedom. Nothing was preventing him from, say, not sharing any new secrets or discoveries he uncovered as he proceeded to chase after the Mistress once winter ended and it was safe to fly in the airship—he really needed to name the damn thing—but the reward to do so potentially meant another step closer to home. If he got that, then he could just forget about the Mistress, this entire damn world, and go back home.