Part II
A letter arrived today. From her.
She invited us to the palace, claiming she wants to host a “proper” royal visit to thank Aunt Margaret for her care of me.
Ayleth must assume I’m the biggest fool alive if she guesses that I’ll fall for such a ruse.
Then again…it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve believed her lies.
At the palace, I considered her my friend.
My sister, even. But all Ayleth really desired was to wheedle her way into Mother’s place.
For so long, I didn’t want to accept that Ayleth was capable of such treachery.
But the truth revealed itself in how quickly she packed me off to Aunt Margaret’s estate.
In the cold, sterile tone of her infrequent letters, in which she never mentioned my return to the palace.
In the news that trickled in from court—Papa’s accident and Ayleth’s regency.
And now I wonder if my being sent away wasn’t due to my illness at all, but because it was more convenient for Ayleth to succeed in her scheming if I wasn’t around.
Well, two can play at this game, as Aunt Margaret says. Let the so-called queen sit on Mother’s throne while she can.
Soon enough, I will make her pay for everything she stole from me.
—From the private writings of Princess Blodwyn