Page 40 of Conspirators' Kingdom

“Because if they’re a shadow mage, as I suspect they are, they’ll be unable to run and hide as they’ve been doing this whole time.”

Vasilisa had discovered that the candidates were being blackmailed in truth, with threatening letters placed in the women’s personal quarters and no witnesses to the act. Whoever had employed the blackmailer had been unable to—or uninterested in—threatening Chloe, though it hadn’t stopped Magistra Jade from appealing to her sister. Thankfully, the outrageously expensive enchantments kept shadowy riffraff away from Chloe, and despite the domina’s daily outings and her sister’s pleas, no one had managed to threaten or dissuade her while she was outside her protections.

“And if the blackmailer can’t run away…”

“Then I can catch and kill them once the glowing wears off.” Vasilisa grinned.

“After they tell us the name of their paymaster. Then we can reassure the women that their sordid secrets are safe, and they can meet with the prince free from the fear of scandal,” Taisiya said.

Taisiya couldn’t afford any more interference. The prince would be asking Chloe to be his wife today. Taisiya was fighting to keep her anxiety at bay, her stomach twisted in knots. What if Zoe had convinced her sister to relent after all? Taisiya had run through the very last of the bride candidates. The mages were beginning to grow suspicious of the way the other fae treated the prince. Failure was not an option. Her whole future balanced on the edge of a knife. If the prince didn’t find a fiancée, she would have to prepare herself to kill him and potentially start a war with the fae of Maat just to be free of whatever ominous boon Mereruka might demand.

Taisiya jumped at the sound of the knock on her door.

“Illustra Spark? Several letters have arrived for you.”

While she was acting as ambassador, she’d been given rooms in the palace. One of the upsides of the suffocating nearness to the empress and every other villain in the capital was that the postal service was exceedingly quick.

“Please enter.”

A grey-robed servant handed the post to Vasilisa, bowed, and exited the rooms.

“Responses from the women,” Vasilisa observed, unsealing the letters and passing them to Taisiya.

Taisiya grimaced as she read, dread crawling up her spine.

“Our malefactor has been busy.”

“Each turned it down?”

Taisiya nodded. She needed to keep down the rising bile. Her last and only hope was Domina Emerald.

“Hunt the bastard down. So long as they’re capable of speaking, I don’t care what shape they’re in when you bring them to me,” Taisiya ordered.

“You’re too kind.” Vasilisa smiled. “My whip-work has been getting rusty lately,” she cooed as she slipped into a shadow behind the couch.

Once Taisiya was alone, nausea threatened in earnest. Deep breaths were doing nothing to calm her nerves or stomach. She paced. All three candidates she’d written to were women she’d met just the other day who had made their interest plain and who were rather desperate for a husband. For the meddler to be able to take action so swiftly was disturbing, especially with the bargain breathing down her neck like some feral beast.

“There’s still Chloe,” Taisiya said to herself.

“Illustra Spark? I’m sorry to disturb you again, but it seems I missed a letter.”

Oh gods, please don’t let it be from the domina.

Taisiya’s hands began shaking. She kept her voice level.

“You may enter.”

The same servant entered, a flustered blush on her face as she handed Taisiya the letter. She didn’t dare look at the seal until the servant departed. The Emerald family crest stared back, mocking her.

“It could be good news. An invitation.To the wedding.”

And maybe the dead would rise.

With trembling hands and a cold sweat trickling down her spine, Taisiya unsealed the letter. Her eyes scanned it, but the words weren’t registering in her mind. The pounding of her heart almost drowned out the agonized noise that flew out of her strangled throat. The letter fell from her bloodless fingers and drifted like a feather to the floor. Strange, that something so terrible hadn’t been announced with the appropriate fanfare.

A sharp pain on her wrists brought her out of her racing thoughts. To her horror, glowing yellow runes had carved themselves into her skin.

“No, no, no, no.” Taisiya stood, trying to rub them off to no avail.

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