The guards around the carriage averted their faces. At least they weren’t murdering me. Maybe I’d been forgotten?
The duchess broke free of the embrace. “I need to kill any other woman who dared touch you, past or future. But I’ll buy you a new ring to make up for it, my handsome stallion.”
“I want a diamond ring this time,” Falael said, climbing into the carriage.
Just let me break free of this fucking paralyzation for one second! I’ll kill them both, then die satisfied!
A Sherdan guard approached me, raising his sword. His face was as impassive as a butcher about to slaughter a pig. The dim sunlight gleamed off the blade hanging over my head.
I couldn’t even move my tongue or close my eyes. Was this truly how I was going to die? The unfairness burned. Did I deserve to pay with my life just because I’d had poor taste in lovers when I’d been a teenager? Didn’t almost everyone date a scumbag or two when young?
As the sword fell, a blurred red figure burst forth from the crowd. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the guard’s sword flying. It struck the cobblestones with a clatter, startling the horses.
Countess Donya stood in front of me with her blade raised. She wore a red coat with a slit down the side and pants underneath, exactly like in her activism posters. The tight fit emphasized her muscular beauty. Her dark brown hair tumbled from beneath her red hat in a tangle like a wild woman. “Don’t take one more step forward,” she growled at the guards.
That was the precise moment I fell for her.
Duchess Hedri whirled around, her mouth a thin line. “Who are you to defy me?”
Donya panted, pushing back her hair. “I’m Countess Donya, the future queen’s new regent.” She inclined her head at the girl in the carriage. “A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.”
The young face pressed against the window paled and dropped out of sight. She had tears in her eyes, the poor thing. These people were twisted for making a child watch my near demise.
Duchess Hedri smirked. “Not any longer. As the princess’s adoptive mother, I will serve as her regent.”
“You’re not even from Arahasnor. You have no authority here.” Donya frowned. “I was unaware of this adoption. I suppose you’d be welcome to stay—that is to say, it would be acceptable for you to stay—we couldn’tstopyou from staying in this country, but only so long as you refrain from attacking our citizens.”
The Blood Duchess snapped her fingers. “Falael?”
He leaned out of the carriage and gave her a scroll.
Duchess Hedri handed it to Donya. “King Uctor of Arahasnor agreed to allow the Kingdom of Sherda to select the regent for Princess Antonia, in event of his death without an heir. We won this favor in the last World Games. Your regency and your kingdom now belong to me.”
If I hadn’t been frozen, I would have cursed. I’d known our late King Uctor was a moron—honestly, the entire kingdom knew; even royal propaganda couldn’t cover it up—but this was an entirely new level of stupid. Anything could be won or lost in the World Games, where monarchs wagered land and wealth as a proxy for war. Under-the-table dealings and private wagers were common. But to let yourentire damn kingdom get stolen out from under youmight be a completely new one, and to make matters worse, he’d arranged for this to happen after his death so it wouldn’t be his problem. If a Sherdan noble became regent, we might as well be a province of Sherda.
Also, I was still going to die. This was small in the geopolitical scheme of things, but it sucked for me.
Countess Donya read the scroll with shaking fingers and an increasingly grim expression. Then she read it again, as if unable tobelieve it. “This appears to be genuine, Lady Regent.” Her pug nose twitched. Though she was trying to hide her shock, her voice faltered. “I hope you’ll at least allow me to guide you as a new ruler of an unfamiliar land. As my first bit of advice, you should immediately release this woman.” She inclined her head at me. “Her name is Bora, the beloved younger sister of Holy Maiden Ysabel.”
How did she know that? On second thought, who cared? I attempted to grunt in confirmation.
For the first time, Duchess Hedri’s face lost its confidence. She probably didn’t fear Ysabel, but rather my sister’s husband, Dark Lord Kaine. Although he’d had his dark lord stigma erased in the last World Games, he still featured in the worst nightmares of every kingdom around the world.
“It would be a shame to have your new kingdom burned to ashes so soon after obtaining it,” Donya said, a soft, unmistakable threat.
I didn’t know if Ysabel would burn kingdoms for me. We’d been separated as young children, and ever since then, there had been a distance between us. She’d always been kind to me in the frequent letters she wrote but rarely talked about anything deep and personal. I’d found out about her engagement from the public town crier. But I hoped the duchess believed Donya.
Duchess Hedri’s eyes flickered over me, really looking at me, as she hadn’t bothered to when ordering my execution. “I’ve never heard of the Holy Maiden having a family. I won’t let you bluff me for the sake of some powerless peasant. I’ll put her in the dungeons until I can investigate. If you’re right, she’ll be the perfect hostage to keep Conollia in check. If you’re wrong, then I’ll drain her blood while she still lives.” She bared her teeth. “She’s not pretty enough for my blood bath, but I’ll make an exception.”
The blood bath was true after all. My apologies to the little old ladies in my village.
As the guards stepped forward, Donya moved to cut them off. Both parties hesitated—the common guards didn’t want to be the first to attack a noblewoman, and Donya didn’t want to start a fight she couldn’t win.
The crowd murmured. “You’re going to killourYsabel’s sister?” a Conollian woman near the front demanded. Her accented voice wasn’t the loudest, but the words cut through the air like a knife.
“She looks just like Holy Maiden Ysabel, except fatter,” an elderly man called.
The dig about my looks was unnecessary, but thank you, random citizen.
