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Lynnette felt compelled to interject. "Your Highness, I'm not sure that would be wise."

"Oh, don't be a stick-in-the-mud, Ms. Edith."

Lynnette just kind of blinked as she tried to comprehend the fact that the King, of all people, had said that to her.

Hector spoke up again. "So if we called the Queen and told her of your intentions here, then--"

"You would be needlessly bothering her," the King said. "She is incredibly busy with matters in Sescoria."

"...And you don't think she'd be worried about the danger that you'd be putting yourself in?" said Hector.

"Danger?" said King William. "What danger would that be?"

"Well, there's the whole thing about how I suspect House Gaolanet might be murdering people..."

"And I am being accompanied by two of the nation's most powerful warriors," said the King. "Besides, do you honestly believe that the Gaolanets would harm their rightful king? How would that make any sense at all?"

"...I don't know," Hector admitted, "but that's also kinda the problem. We don't know that much about them."

"I have to agree, Your Highness," Lynnette added.

The King took a deep breath. "Listen, you two. There are times when bold action is necessary. We have here one such occasion. If we allow this opportunity to slip by, if we play it safe and take our time, then we will be giving the Gaolanets the chance to prepare. And they have a long history of skillful concealment. If we do not catch them unawares, then I fear the truth of things will remain forever in the dark."

Lynnette exchanged flat looks with Hector.

"Call the Queen," he said.

"On it." And Lynnette whipped out her special-issue cellphone.

The King just groaned.

It took a bit of time for the end-to-end encrypted signal to go through, but soon enough, Lynnette had the Queen on the line and was explaining the situation to her.