***

In a small, dingy back room, Rishe fought to stay conscious.

As far as she could tell, she’d been brought to the outskirts of the capital and locked away in what appeared to be a storage room. There was a window, but she was on the third floor. She heard a few people moving on the other side of the door—most likely posted guards.

Rishe sat in one corner, fighting her wavering vision, sluggish body, and aching head.

At long last, a distraction arrived.

“Hey, Sister. How does it feel knowing you’ve been betrayed by your maid and guard?”

“Prince Theodore,” Rishe acknowledged, letting out a sigh. At last, the person she’d been waiting for made his entrance.

Theodore cheerfully smiled down at her from the door. “So sad, and after you trained that girl so lovingly. Elsie told me all about your scheme to get the maids doing their jobs faster. Even the officials are talking about you and your system. Apparently, it’s going to fix the palace’s staffing problem. My brother’s brilliant bride, here to solve all his administrative issues.” The smile dropped off his beautiful face. “You’re valuable to him.”

Her thoughts hazy, Rishe managed to ask, “Why do this?”

“To make my brother angry, of course.”

“That’s it?”

Theodore’s voice was unwavering as he spoke. “Skilled knights. Brilliant attendants. A bride who’s reforming the palace. My brother sees value in excellence and nothing else. I am so far beneath his notice that he doesn’t even bother to hate me. I decided to change that—I want him to loathe me down to his core.”

Rishe realized something then. Until now, she’d been operating under the assumption that Theodore schemed to undermine his brother because he disliked him. She’d made a terrible error.

“My brother doesn’t even look at me, you know?” Theodore said, chuckling. “No matter what I do, he won’t give me the time of day. He only bothered to acknowledge I was alive when I approached you. I’d far rather be looked at as an annoyance than nothing at all!” Theodore’s whole body was quivering, not out of fear but excitement. “While he’s mad at me, he’s thinking of me! It’s such a relief! Knowing that he considers me, even a little!”

Rishe watched his fuzzy figure from her seat on the floor as he continued to laugh.

Fighting through her nausea and headache, Rishe smiled at him. “You’re lying.”

“What?” Theodore’s face twisted so briefly that Rishe would have missed it if she hadn’t been watching closely. “You’re just angry I captured you. It’s not very becoming, Sister.”

“Then won’t you deign to tell your poor, defenseless hostage why the two of you hate each other so very much?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“You made it my business,” Rishe said, “when you dragged to me into your feud.”

Theodore stuck out his lip petulantly, like a child. “Fine. Whatever. Remember how I told you my brother killed our mother? Well, he did it because she tried to kill him first.”

Rishe recalled the scars on the nape of Arnold’s neck, numerous and at least a decade old.

“She hated my brother as much as she hated my father. And Brother hated her in return. He dreamed of ending her life.”

Rishe listened in silence.

“I bet he’ll kill Father someday too. And when he does, being crown prince won’t save him—he’ll be a traitor, and they’ll execute him. There will be no escape.” Theodore’s voice was light, unknowing of the prescience of his joke. “Our family is a mess because our father treats us like objects. Movable game pieces. And because my brother has severed all contact with his siblings, my sisters live elsewhere, on his orders.”

“Why did Prince Arnold hate your mother so much he wanted to kill her?”

Theodore shrugged. “I assume it’s because she tried to kill him first. It’s only normal to loathe someone like that.”

Rishe had thought he’d answer that way, but she wasn’t sure she agreed. To her eyes, Arnold wouldn’t hold a grudge like that, or swear a vendetta. But trying to sort any of this out right now was impossible—she was too ill to even think.

“And now you know. Satisfied?”

“Yes. Very.” Rishe mustered all her strength to smile at Theodore. “You want to be close with Prince Arnold.”

“Wh—” Theodore’s blue eyes, so like his brother’s, went wide as saucers.

“You spoke about Arnold differently this time. When you told me about him in the chapel, you made him out to be a monster.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Theodore turned his back on Rishe. “Enough of this nonsense. I’m going to go play with my brother now, so you be a good girl while I’m gone. I’ve posted guards at the door; you won’t get far if you try to escape. Bye.”

He shut the door behind him, throwing the lock. After his footsteps faded away, Rishe could still hear the presence of people outside in the hall. She let out a deep sigh and turned to a box in the corner of the room, drawing out thick winter curtains. Delighted, she laid them on the floor and curled up on top of them. Not luxurious by any stretch, but still far more comfortable than sleeping rough when she was a knight. And more importantly…

At last, I can sleep!

She’d been fighting to stay awake before Theodore arrived—now that they’d spoken, she had no reason to bother. The headache and nausea were bad enough, but above all else, she was tired. So tired her whole body ached.

Rishe closed her eyes and fell asleep for just over an hour. It was a short nap, but it refreshed her mind. She hadn’t completely recovered, of course, but she felt much better than she had before she fainted. As she stirred, she yawned.

Hmm, I think I still have… Yes!

She pulled out a hidden vial of medicine, enduring its bitter taste as she gulped it down. It was a temporary measure, but once it kicked in, she’d have more options open to her. Next, she smoothly rolled up the hem of her dress, retrieving the dagger she had fastened to her thigh with a ribbon.

This is a good-quality knife. Elsie brought it to me from the slums—Prince Theodore must be their supplier.Rishe pulled two gold hairpins from her hair. Accessories on most days, lockpicks on special occasions.

I’ll have to thank Elsie and Kamil for their help later.They had, after all, been the ones to supply her the information on Theodore.

Dagger and her makeshift lockpicks in hand, Rishe stood up.

She’d confirmed before Theodore’s arrival that the lock had been tampered with, destroyed from the inside. Normally that would mean the door couldn’t be opened from here, but Rishe could deal with that.

I think it should be around here.

She knelt before the door, locating a small pinhole underneath the doorknob—a fail-safe in case the internal lock was broken. As she probed around with the golden pins, she went over her next moves.I hope Elsie and Kamil are okay. Theydidjust betray Prince Theodore, and the people around here adore him.

Her maid had been working for Theodore all along.