Page 20 of Decoy

He stared at me a moment, his gaze searching, before he finally nodded. “Then you’d best do it soon; the curse has little patience when displeased.”

Horror seized my breath. “Has it already acted?”

Malik shook his head and I released my shaky breath, though this sliver of relief wasn’t enough to loosen the foreboding knotting my stomach at the fury I still sensed within the surrounding shadows, their sinister promise to strike soon unless I complied.

“It hasn’t, but the shadows are already growing visibly restless. The mission is too important for them to provide their usual luxury of time for you to summon the courage to comply. The moment they grow too impatient…”

He didn’t need to finish; our family history contained far too many devastating examples of what happened when the curse’s dictates weren’t followed with exactness. If I wanted to avoid disaster, I’d have to act soon.

Sooncame much more quickly than I anticipated when I remembered the princess had dropped a hint to the Prince of Thorndale to meet her in front of a rather…interestingpainting that filled in some of the details I coveted about Her Highness, leading to another thoroughly entertaining encounter that further weakened my precarious resolve.

I’d truly meant to do the deed then and there…but it’d been impossible to summon my reluctant gumption when it’d been much more entertaining to tease her, behavior I scolded myself quite harshly for when we parted ways once more.

“Tomorrow.” The promise served as a signature on Her Highness’s execution warrant. Failure to comply would come at far too high a cost, and not just for the sake of my family. Already the princess had secured a dangerous hold over me; if I delayed much longer, she’d only further entangle me and my muddled resolve.

She had to die by my hand, a death that would also put my curiosity to rest concerning all the unsolved mysteries surrounding her I was secretly desperate to solve. Hopefully then she’d finally leave me in peace.

CHAPTER7

BLAIR

Books surrounded me in a cocoon within the Estorian palace library, each row of towering shelves a diverging trail in a vast wood of knowledge, leaving me lost as to where to begin my overwhelming search. After some consideration, I found a promising path that wove through the geography section and spent the long afternoon combing the vast number of volumes in search of information concerning how each of the surrounding kingdoms might benefit from the Estorian princess’s death.

Over the course of several hours I was able to piece together a patchwork of possibilities for each of the surrounding kingdoms and prominent noble houses. Much of the nobility had histories of confiscated lands and seized power from our reigning family’s ancestors that could serve as potential reasons for revenge, while the other kingdoms possessed much more substantial motives.

From Princess Collette I’d learned that Thorndale claimed that Estoria had stolen their nation’s magic, but in digging deeper I discovered many rumors of their seeking enough power in order to enhance their armies to better invade the surrounding kingdoms. A small adjoining nation that had lost their own resource of magic when they declared independence from Estoria only a century before, and not only had Wisteria never been on good terms with Estoria, but they were in dire need of magic after years of poor harvests had left their kingdom on the brink of ruin.

I couldn’t even rule out Eldenwood. I’d initially dismissed their potential involvement when Prince Elton and Princess Collette had been so forthcoming with their information the day before. Not only had they seemed a bittoowilling in giving me information about other kingdoms—a cooperation I could now only see as a means of casting suspicion away from themselves—but in my research I discovered a rumor that Eldenwood had recently angered an ancient dragon by stealing one of its priceless treasures and were now in desperate need of magic to protect their borders with its pending plans to retaliate.

Each motive seemed strong enough to warrant murdering a foreign nation’s sole heir even with the ramifications that would follow, though none seemed substantial enough for me to justify entirely abandoning my investigations about the known assassin in front of me.

With their close connections with the Estorian crown, the dukedom of Rosewood could very well be the threat I was looking for, though I couldn’t entirely dismiss the possibility that Lord Luke had been hired by one of these desperate royal families or noble houses. While he remained my prime suspect, there were too many unknowns not to explore the other dozens of possibilities I still didn’t know how to begin unraveling.

I’d baited Prince Elton with my plans to spend hours researching in this tucked-away alcove, but in the end neither he nor Princess Collette ever came, though I did receive another unexpected visitor in the form of a travel worn but regal king exhausted from his long journey.

I rose to my feet to curtsy, but he waved aside the gesture with a sincere smile. “There’s no need for such formality on my account. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Evelyn. I am King Lucien III, reigning king of your closest neighbor, Brimoire. Forgive me for disturbing you; I was too eager to make your acquaintance to delay our meeting any longer.”

The reason for his urgency was no mystery—Brimoire was a prime suspect due to their need of Estoria’s magic for a devastating blight rumored to be inflicting their land, which had undoubtedly led to their plans to unite our two kingdoms through a union between Princess Evelyn of Estoria and the king’s youngest son, Prince Ryland of Brimoire…an arrangement that had been suddenly broken only a week before, an occurrence that had undoubtedly prompted the king’s sudden visit.

I was in no mood for the political dance that would force me to dissuade this king’s desperate hopes to repair the shattered contract between our two kingdoms, but I played my assigned role well by bidding him to sit and demurely closing my books to give him my full attention.

He wasted no time. “Forgive me for the suddenness of broaching such a topic when you’re still settling in to your new role, but I didn’t want to delay the opportunity to speak with you.”

I easily read between the carefully delivered diplomatic lines: he feared that with the many visiting eligible bachelors vying for my hand, he’d lose any chance of a union between our kingdoms to one of the princes or high-ranking nobles.

“Several years ago our two kingdoms forged a marriage alliance. Estoria offered their magic, and Brimoire offered many of our prized minerals. As powerful as your kingdom’s abundance of power is, it can’t be exported like our own resources. Our union would be mutually beneficial to our kingdoms’ economies. Thus I’m hoping to reinstate our prior arrangement and restore our previous diplomatic relationship.”

A persuasive speech, but even if I weren’t masquerading as a royal, it wasn’t my place to make such a decision for the entire kingdom. The Estorian king and queen had clearly had their reasons to sever the union, and it wouldn’t do for me to upset them…not to mention they’d never marry off an imposter.

I chose my words carefully, for as much as I loathed the royal family, it was in my best interest to perform the role they’d assigned with precision lest I be caught as an imposter. “Due to the suddenness of coming into such an important role, I’m afraid I still find myself inexperienced in political matters. I lack adequate information about the circumstances leading to our broken contract to be able to make a decision on Their Majesties’ behalf.”

He didn’t immediately answer, as if frantically scrambling for something that might persuade me from my firm stance. Finding nothing, his shoulders slumped. “It appears I’ll have to take up my cause with Their Majesties.”

Considering they’d been the ones to break the contract, there was little chance of them restoring it. Only desperation could have led him to hope otherwise. He was diplomatic enough to admit his defeat and take his leave, his next visit undoubtedly to Their Majesties to attempt to renegotiate. Thankfully I was out of it.

I dutifully immersed myself back in my research, this time focusing my search on information that would help me breach the royal treasury…for even the assignment that brought the promise of sparing me the noose couldn’t entirely dissuade me from my initial purpose in infiltrating the palace. But an hour drifted by with little results.

Discouraged, I reluctantly returned to researching political motives, only to be cut off by an unexpected interruption.

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