Chapter 45

45

Ella

We didn't speak during the rest of the ride. Cassius drew inward, his mood dark and brooding, while my own thoughts were as tangled as the briars in the undergrowth. It only worsened as we neared the castle.

"May I have permission to visit my sister?" I asked, breaking the unnerving silence. "Doctor LaMazi has very strict rules."

He looked over at me, as if not truly seeing me. Perhaps he was thinking of his brother. "Of course. I'll send word to the doctor."

After that, he lapsed into silence again.

As soon as we rode through the gates, Aamon intercepted Cassius and pulled him away on urgent business. The prince's friend shot me a suspicious look as they departed, and I wondered if the urgent business had simply been to get Cassius away from me.

It was a relief, in all honesty. As much as I coveted the prince's presence, I could barely think around him, and I desperately needed to get my head straight. I set to work grooming the horses and cleaning the tack. The rhythm of the familiar work and the scent of the stables began to clear my mind.

In the last twenty-four hours, I'd probably received more information than the resistance could hope to learn in a hundred years. The problem was, I was cursed to never repeat anything about the Triad or their magic, and the rest of what I'd learned barely made sense without it.

What would my stepmother say if I'd told her that the immortals had lost the revolution and didn't really rule? She'd call me crazy and a fool. She'd say I was just making up things to sound self-important—or to cover for the fact that I'd learned nothing at all.

Hell, with what I could repeat, Belle probably wouldn't buy it, either. I'd barely believed Cassius's story myself.

I finished my duties to the animals and headed back to the women's residence to wash up. But before I made it to the servants' hall, two shapes appeared out of the shadows. I stepped back quickly, but Bianca lunged forward and dug her nails into my arm. "You little whore!"

I tried to jerk away from her inhumanly strong grip, but she wasn't alone. Lorayna grabbed my hair and yanked my head to the side. "So, it's true. He finally broke his fast."

"I told you she was a filthy hussy," Bianca moaned. "She's trying to steal the prince from me!"

"Let go!" I grunted as I struggled, but their strength was like iron. My breathing quickened as panic set in. We'd all heard stories about the immortals' strength, and given the murderous look in their eyes, it was entirely possible they intended to rip me limb from limb.

Lorayna's fingers tightened, pulling the roots of my hair. "Didn't Bianca order you to dye this repulsive mess?"

"The prince ordered me to wash it out. I've only done what he asked."

"And have you done what we asked?" Her voice dripped with threat. "What information have you discovered?"

The darkest secrets of this kingdom.

But the wicked sisters only cared for power and the ball, and there were a dozen meaningless things I could feed them without compromising the prince's agenda or mine. I rattled off empty tidbits—his preferences for his privacy, snippets of information I'd learned about his appointments, names I'd heard mentioned, and a few from the papers—but the more I said, the more I realized it wouldn't be enough. They'd wanted me to find something that would help them draw his eye, but the only thing that seemed to captivate the prince's attention was me.

"You're useless," Lorayna declared.

Bianca's face loomed over me, her eyes wild with hatred. "More than useless. She's a traitorous little wench . She was never going to help us. She planned to seduce him and steal him for herself. But I don't think he'll have much use for a corpse." She feigned a pitying expression. "They're so much less interesting to play with."

Darkness clouded the corners of my vision as my resolve strengthened. They were bullies, and submission would never get them to leave me alone. I was tired of it, and I refused to play the docile servant any longer.

I spat in Bianca's face and kicked her, my foot slamming into her shin. "Go ahead. Do what you want, you crazy bitch. But when they find my body, who do you think the prince will blame for murdering his concubine, the only woman he's wished to feed from in a hundred years? You—and I assure you, he will not be pleased."

Bianca screamed with rage as she wiped the spittle off her face, but Lorayna only smiled. "I guess we'll find out."

A harsh laugh escaped from my throat. "I've told him everything about you two. He knows everything you've done to me. He will fall on you like a thunderstorm."

Lorayna smirked, unfazed by my threat. "You've overplayed your hand, foolish girl. He needs us, but he doesn't need you."

"He needs me ," Bianca insisted.

"For three more days," I said, giving her a wicked grin. "What purpose will you serve after the ball? To announce to the court every time he walks through the door? You're essentially useless, Bianca. Easily disposed of."

She slapped me across the face. Braced between them, my head kicked back hard, pain flaring in my cheek.

"What about you, Lorayna?" I continued. "If Cassius thinks you harmed me, he might just as well tell his new queen she can pick another chamberlain who will be loyal. She'll obviously want to make a mark here, and the quickest way to do that will be to get rid of you both, particularly if her new husband thinks it's for the best."

"Cassius?" Bianca shrieked. "You're a serving girl. You dare use his name?"

"You've fooled yourself if you think he cares for you," Lorayna said, false pity thick in her voice.

Her words stung harsher than the welt on my face.

Bianca grabbed my chin. "He's going to marry me. I will be the new queen."

I twisted my head free. "Not in a thousand years. He despises you."

"That's not true," the pretty sociopath wailed.

"It is. He's not going to marry either of you. It's already decided."

Lorayna's expression grew dark. "Then tell me, girl , what use are you to us? Because if we're both going to lose our place at court, there's no reason not to rip your throat out and lap the blood from your neck right now."

She clenched her hand around my throat and squeezed. I kicked and gasped. There was no doubt she was willing to do me in, and as much as I wanted to defy them, I also very much wanted to live.

"There's—a—list," I choked.

She eased her grasp. "What did you say?"

I sucked in a deep breath, my lungs burning. "He keeps papers on all the potential brides. I think he has a short list. I can bring it to you."

"What use is a list if my name is not on it?" Bianca hissed, looking over her sister's shoulder.

"You can make alliances with the potential queens before they arrive. If he chooses a foreign bride, she'll need friends in the castle. Why not you? Save your position, or hell, bargain for more power."

Bianca screeched, then stormed away. "Gods, kill her already Lorayna! I want to see why His Highness thinks she tastes soooo good."

But Lorayna didn't waver. "Bargain what? The information you've given us so far is useless ."

"The list itself," I rasped under her tightening fist. "I doubt the new queen will want any rivals. She'll want to know what other women caught her husband's eye, and I'm sure the new queen would be eternally grateful if you helped secure her power in the court."

There was a flicker of hesitation in Lorayna's eyes, but it betrayed everything. There was no negotiating with a madwoman like Bianca, but Lorayna was cunning, and you could bargain with cunning.

I had her on the hook. Now all I had to do was reel her in. "Think of what you could do if you were in sole possession of the prince's list. If there were women you might want eliminated or banished from court, you could even write their name down. The new queen would see them as rivals, too."

Lorayna released me, and I collapsed, gasping, on the floor.

"Why are you letting her go? I want to bleed her dry!" Bianca shouted, but Lorayna held up a hand, silencing her sister.

I rose and straightened my dress. "The key, of course, is to gain her trust early, and you can't do that if you don't know who the real candidates are."

Lorayna crossed her arms. "Then you have twenty-four hours. Bring me the list by this time tomorrow or I will hunt you down and kill you myself."

"Yes!" Bianca said, glancing between me and her sister, only just coming up to speed. "Bring us the list, or I'm going to peel your skin off one piece at time, like picking petals from a daisy. Then I'm going to eat them ."

As if I had any doubt, she slowly mimed the process, licking her fingers and smacking her lips together delightedly at the end. I backed away in horror from the two bloodthirsty lunatics and tried to keep my thoughts straight. "What stops you from killing me once I hand it over?"

Lorayna's mouth twisted in a vicious smile. "You're a clever little girl. You'll think of something, I'm sure."