Donya counted off on her fingers. “King Uctor also promised the princess’s regency—and effective control of our country—to two other kingdoms. And he promised the Sashan Guild of Slavers a thousand of our citizens in slavery in exchange for a large sum of money.”
“But …” I gaped. “Slavery wasn’t legal in Arahasnor, even before it got outlawed globally in the last World Games. He can’t do that.”
“I imagine Uctor thought that wouldn’t be his problem since it was agreed that the guild would collect upon his death. They can’t force us to hand our people over, but they can ask for their money back. The kingdom doesn’t have any money. We’re completely broke.” Donya’s shoulders sagged.
“Oh dear,” I said. That didn’t seem sufficient. “Oh shit.”
“The Blood Duchess knew about the other rivals. She came here with a plan. She adopted the princess legally, meaning she has the first right to the regency. Sherda gave her a large sum to pay off the slavers. If the former slavers’ guild gets a foothold in our kingdom, they’ll bring misery and disaster. You don’t know how badly we need that money, Bora.”
“I know that I can be executed for impersonating a duchess!” I drew a thumb across my throat. This new information only made my position even worse. The kingdom was on the edge of collapse, everyone hated me, and three rival powers wanted my stolen throne. Nope, nope, nope. I wasnottaking responsibility for this mess. I was going back to my peaceful life with my little brother in the countryside and never setting foot outside my village again. In comparison, even my mother bossing me around and tossing passive-aggressive insults suddenly felt like a nonexistent problem, and it had gotten easier to avoid my father since the divorce. I would greet Dad’s harassing creditors like old friends because at least they didn’t have armies to back them up.
“I’ll protect you, I swear. I’ll figure something out.” She did not sound confident enough to inspire any confidence in me. “If everything goes wrong, you can always flee to Conollia, and Ysabel will protect you.”
“Why do I have to get exiled? I want to live in Arahasnor! It’s my home!”
“Your home won’t survive much longer if you don’t help it,” Donya said with hideous bluntness.
I looked at my hands. I didn’t want to let Donya down. But if I tried to do something so far outside my capabilities, I’d only let her down later, when the stakes were much higher. “I … I …”
“I’m very sorry, but you don’t have a choice at the moment,” Donya said. “It’s unlikely the princess will be able to swap you back right away. A powerful gift generally takes a lot out of the user.”
“How long?” I asked, panic making my voice more strident.
“I don’t know. Body-swapping gifts are only legend. I thought I overheard the footman telling you that the princess is still asleep.”
I nodded. I’d asked as soon as we got back.
“We’ll have to at least wait for her to wake up. And it will take her time after that to build up her strength. Who knows how long? Furthermore, there’s almost always a distance limit on gifts. The duchess in your body is currently outside the city. If she comes back, then it will be possible to swap you two. But if she decides to leave the kingdom, you’ll probably be out of luck.”
I whimpered. “Why would she do that?” Surely the duchess must want to swap back even more than me.
“From her perspective, an enemy just stole her body. It would be foolish for her to head into the territory controlled by that enemy. She’ll probably seek out allies in her home country.”
I moaned.
“I’ll send out guards right away to look for the duchess in your body, if you give me the authority.”
“Yes—you can have all the authority you want. I’ll order everyone to obey you as me. Just get my body back!”
Donya’s face turned uneasy. “No one will believe that unless we come up with a decent excuse. I suppose I can pretend you threatened me into working for you. Even so, you’ll need to make some appearances.”
“Find my body … please …”
“I’ll make it top priority,” Donya said. “We can’t have the duchess telling anyone else about the swap. If people believe her, you’ll be arrested.”
I hadn’t even been thinking about that. I moaned even longer and more pitifully.
Donya exhaled. “I definitely don’t want you to think I’m threatening you, so please don’t take it that way, but it would be a very bad idea for you to leave the protection of the palace. The Blood Duchess has many enemies. Many, many enemies. In fact, there’s an entire assassin organization founded by her victims for the sole purpose of killing her. Twelve assassins with personal grudges against her trained for years to take revenge. The organization is funded by countless other people who’ve lost loved ones to her murderous rampages. My spies inform me that they’ve taken the duchess leaving her country as an opportunity. The Twelve Avengers are on the move.”
That was a scary-sounding name. I stared at my hands. “So I have no choice but to pretend to be the duchess.”
“I’m afraid so.” Donya looked sincerely sorry.
“You’ll help me?” I whispered, trying not to cry again.
Donya gripped my hand. “I’ll look after you like my own little sister. I promise.”
Yep. I was in the best friend’s kid-sister box.
