Page 7 of Rise of the Vicious Princess

As soon as he saw her, Reuben ended his conversation and headed her way, his hand on his sword hilt.

“Any news?” she asked as he reached her side.

“The last report I had said the queen is resting and is expected to fully recover, though it will take time.” His dark eyes hardened. “We found one additional spy.”

Her heartbeat kicked hard against her skin. “Where?”

“Your bath chamber.”

“My . . . what?” Her thoughts whirled into chaos as a shiver crept over her skin.

“Hiding in your bath chamber, Your Highness.” Reuben’s voice was a snarl of fury.

“But how—”

“Someone must have snuck her into the wing. Luther and Fada were both on duty, and both swear they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

She blinked and frantically tried to grab one of the wild thoughts in her head and force it to make sense.

A spy. An assassin. In her private wing. Her bath chamber. She could’ve gone upstairs after the ball with Milla and been attacked while she slept.

“Funny thing, though,” Reuben said, his hand gripping his sword hilt like he wished he had a handy target. “She didn’t have a weapon.”

“Then how was she going to kill me?” The words sounded logical. Calm. Totally at odds with the fear unspooling within her.

“Maybe she wasn’t sent to kill you. Maybe she was simply a spy.”

That didn’t make sense, but neither did being in the princess’s private chambers without a weapon. Charis drew in a shaky breath and nodded as though she were still in complete control. “Very well, Reuben. Put her in the dungeon, and we’ll interrogate her tomorrow. Let’s get to the bottom of this quickly.”

Reuben scowled. “Can’t put her in the dungeon, Your Highness.”

“You most certainly can.”

“She’s dead.”

Charis glared at him. “Are you telling me you killed an unarmed woman?”

“She was in your chambers. That made her a threat.”

“That was foolish. We could have learned something from her.” Charis pressed her fingers against her brow in a futile attempt to stave off the headache that was forming. Mother was going to be absolutely furious when she learned of this.

Reuben’s jaw tightened, but he held his tongue.

“What’s done is done. Be absolutely certain every staff member who knows the truth understands they must keep quiet, and assign extra security teams for the palace tonight.” Charis began moving toward her chambers.

Luther and Fada were on duty patrolling the corridor. She thanked them, bade Elsbet and Reuben a good evening, and retired to her chambers.

Milla was in the bath chamber, scrubbing blood from the tub. She looked up as Charis entered, her eyes tearstained, her freckles standing out against her pale skin.

“They killed her right here in your bathtub.” Her voice caught on a hiccupping sob. “And Reuben left such a mess. I didn’t want you to see it.”

“Oh, Milla.” Charis hurried to her side and squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. Here, let me help.”

Milla looked scandalized. “A princess does not scrub her own bathtub!”

“She does when someone’s been murdered in it.”

Milla swallowed audibly and plunged her dirty rag into a bucket of clean water. Charis grabbed a second rag and followed suit.

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