CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As soon as we marched up the stairs, Araceli stormed down the hallway.
She wore the same black assassin outfit as the time she’d tried to kill me.
All the running had left her face flushed and her hair disheveled.
Rings covered all of her fingers. A glowing light from a golden band pointed at us.
“Found you!” she cried. “If you’re one of the Twelve Avengers, too, this isn’t the real Blood Duchess—”
“It’s all right.” I stepped between them with my hands raised, hoping to stave off a fight. “Meet my sister, Ysabel. She came here to rescue me.”
Araceli lowered her hand. “She knows who you are now?”
“Yes.” I smiled to show the danger had passed.
“Ysabel, as in the Holy Maiden?” Araceli flushed. She dropped into a curtsey. “It’s an honor, Your Holiness.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Ysabel said, inclining her head, “unless you’re here to assassinate my husband after trying to kill my sister?”
“No, my target is Duchess Hedri—the real duchess. I’m Araceli, Your Holiness.”
“A potential suitor for Bora,” Donya whispered to Ysabel. “I already gave her the Big Sister Intimidation Talk.”
“Nice. I knew I could count on you.” Ysabel gave Donya a fist bump.
I turned crimson, a color painfully evident on my current pale skin.
If I’d overheard that, Araceli might have, too.
Talk about mortifying! Why did my older sister live to embarrass me, even dragging innocent bystanders into it?
“It’s not like that! Araceli just pretended to flirt with me to help me deal with a problem—” I still didn’t want to explain about Falael to my sister.
“It wasn’t a big deal. There’s nothing between us. ”
“That’s right.” Araceli seemed to wither. “I should get changed. Most of the palace knows me as a maid, not an assassin, and I plan to keep it that way. This clothing has magical protections, or I wouldn’t have worn it.”
“It looks great on you,” I said. “Uh, I’m very grateful you came to save me.” The attempted mass resignation of the guard had made it painfully obvious I couldn’t count on many people in a crisis. “Seriously, thank you.”
She shrugged, seeming uncomfortable with the praise. “It’s nothing. As you said.” She turned and walked away.
I might have said something else, but then Ysabel swept past me. “To the royal planning room,” she ordered. “We have a great deal to discuss before the dwarven delegation arrives.”
The planning room was full of world maps, spread across the stone table and plastered on the walls.
Though it was a fairly large room, the filing cabinets and racks of maps made it seem cramped.
There were no windows, only a gas lamp overhead.
The space reeked of gas and parchment. A world globe sat next to the golden throne at the head of the table.
Waves moved slightly across the painted water.
If I looked closer, I could also see the real-time movement of storms. Naturally, my sister sat on the throne.
No one would have dared challenge her for it.
Once we were all seated, Ysabel took charge like an expert.
“My dear friend Ua’la’sur used to be queen of the dwarves, and she dished out all the dirt to me. ”
My sister knew the Queen of Nightmares? I whistled under my breath. I couldn’t say I was surprised, not with the company she usually kept.
Ysabel continued, “There was a big scandal recently when the secretary of the treasury cleaned out a good bit of the government’s money and ran away to a foreign country.
It caused serious unrest. The prime minister tried to cover it up, but word still got out.
Ua’la’sur even had people reaching out to her asking if she was interested in starting a rebellion to return to power. She wasn’t.”
Smart woman, I thought. Being a ruler isn’t as much fun as it looks from the outside.
“This is bad news,” Donya muttered.
“Why?” I asked. This all sounded like useful blackmail material.
Ysabel said, “As Donya has guessed, this move to take over Arahasnor is the prime minister’s ploy to hold on to power. He’s probably planning to pretend that buying our country is where all the money went—even though he got the rights to the regency dirt cheap in the Games.”
Donya said, “If it’s a matter of politics and pride, then the dwarven delegation won’t back down easily. Even worse, they may be spoiling for a fight. Nothing like foreign conflict to help a leader raise his popularity at home. They’ll be looking for trouble with us.”
Kaine leaned back in his chair. “Some leaders are the worst. Who would drag their people into a war just for pride? My honey bunny taught me that’s what assassination is for—when someone pisses you off but there’s an army between you and them.”
Ysabel gave Kaine a sweet look. “They can’t wage war on us—they’re oathbound like all nations not to fight any other signatory to the Conclave of Kings.
They’re probably aiming for a long, twisty court case.
Unfortunately, we can’t afford to take a long time.
Our strategy will be to get rid of all foreign threats quickly, then swap Bora and the Blood Duchess back. ”
I nodded vigorously, badly wanting to be back in my own body.
Ysabel’s lips peeled back into a feral grin. “For that reason, we need to convince the dwarven delegation that we’re far more trouble than they’re willing to bite off. We need to show them a real villainess.”
I didn’t like how everyone looked at me as she said that.
“To start, we’ll have Bora take me hostage,” Ysabel said.
I raised my hand. “Why am I doing that?”
“So we can pretend that Kaine is being threatened into protecting you,” Ysabel said. “We need an excuse to use my hubby’s firepower without involving Conollia in the political machinations.”
I nodded. “That makes sense.” I remembered how absolutely everyone in the city had been terrified of Kaine’s arrival. No one wanted to fight the former dark lord.
Kaine shrugged. “I could just destroy the dwarves without the need for this song and dance.”
Ysabel raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t you just say that good leaders shouldn’t drag their people into conflict?”
“Oh, it won’t be necessary to call in the Conollian army. I can take them by myself. If they’re causing trouble for my sister-in-law, then this is personal.”
“You’re a king. Everything you do involves Conollia.”
“Not if I threaten them to never come near my country,” Kaine insisted.
Ysabel sighed. “If we bring home a war with the Dwarven Caves, then Durrian will be very upset with both of us.”
“Oh.” Kaine’s brow wrinkled. “We can’t have that.”
“Just picture his tired, stressed-out, sad face.”
Kaine shuddered. “We’ll do it your way, dear.”
“Thank you.” Ysabel turned back to me. “After we put on a show and threaten the dwarves a bit, then we’ll switch to bribery. I know the location of their missing secretary of the treasury. I’ll let you offer that up as a trade, so they can give up the rights to our kingdom but still save face.”
I tapped my chin. “The carrot-and-stick approach. Clever.” It felt good to have Ysabel around again. If only Calum was still here too …
Cradling her head in her hands, Donya mumbled, “It’s way better than anything I came up with. We might as well try.” She sounded absolutely exhausted. I was glad Ysabel had shown up to help her. If only I could have been more use before this. I was in way over my head, and I knew it.
Ysabel patted Donya on the shoulder. “Chin up! This is going to be fun.”
Both Donya and I gave her the glare that she deserved.
When I’d agreed to act the part of the villainess, I hadn’t fully thought through what it would entail.
As Araceli tied up the laces on the back of my dress, I groaned. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You did great last time.” Araceli patted my shoulder.
“Last time I was riding high on adrenaline and anger.” I gnawed on my lip. This had all seemed so much easier in the planning room. Now I had to go out there and threaten people way more important than me. My hands shook.
Araceli stepped around to face me and meet my eyes. “Would it help if I stay somewhere nearby so I can rescue you if you start to falter?”
“Yes, please,” I whispered.
“Then I will. I’ll help you get through this. Turn around so I can do your hair.” Araceli spun me to face the mirror.
A stranger stared back at me. Today’s dress was red as blood with a ruffled skirt, rubies dotting the bodice and the long, flowing sleeves.
A cloth rose jutted at the hip. The dress was strapless with puffs of lace around my shoulders and a massive ruby brooch centered between my breasts.
It bared an embarrassing amount of cleavage.
My ears felt heavy from the long teardrop garnet earrings I wore.
The combination of a crown and a heavy golden necklace made me feel like my head was being pulled downward.
The rings on my fingers were all fakes, but I had no choice but to wear them as the duchess’s famous style no matter how much they hurt my knuckles.
The duchess’s long blonde hair frizzed in all directions before Araceli grabbed clumps and started to tame it into a braided bun.
I shifted. I was sweating again. Ugh, I always felt hot in this body. As I moved, my stomach jiggled. I flinched as I watched the waves in the mirror. It brought back an old, dark impulse. Keeping busy had staved off the thoughts. Now they returned.