13. Dagmara

“Idon’t believe it.” Magda let out a sharp breath. “King Claude wants to marry me.”

“What?” Dagmara gasped.

Magda stepped aside to make room for Dagmara, and Dagmara quickly scanned the letter.

Disbelief flooded through Dagmara’s body.

“He sees Azurem as weak,” Magda deduced. “Now he wants full control of it.”

Odie let out a yelp, almost in agreement.

“A guardian has never married another guardian before,” Dagmara objected. “Merging the life and mind lineages?”

Magda snapped her head up to Dagmara. “The life lineage doesn’t exist anymore.” Her lip quivered ever so slightly.

Dagmara could feel the onset of tears. She went to Magda’s side and nestled her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“I can’t go through with the marriage,” Magda said. “Sooner or later, he will discover I am a Soul Guardian. I can’t control it. What then? Azurem is history.”

Dagmara listened in silence. This was Magda’s decision, even though Dagmara may have her own opinions on the situation. Until Magda asked for her opinion, she kept her mouth shut.

“What would Claude have to gain from this alliance anyway?” Magda asked.

Dagmara faced her friend. “More troops so that he can finish taking over all the kingdoms?”

“I’m serious.” Magda frowned.

“I’m serious too,” Dagmara replied. “I hate him. He’s holding onto the cure that could save Teos’s life.”

“If there was a marriage, we could negotiate medication. Azurem would benefit from reopening the trade routes.”

Dagmara hadn’t thought about that. Would the Mad King even be interested in negotiating? Was there a way to get the medication from Ilusauri after all?

Magda asked, “We don’t have proof Claude was behind the assassinations, do we?”

“No, but he killed his parents. And he invaded Celestaire,” Dagmara explained. “I think it”s easy to see a pattern.”

“What were you doing for my father?” Magda asked. “Why were you assassinating Azuremi nobles if Claude was behind everything my father feared?”

She had a good point. There was something Bogdan and Aleksy kept from Dagmara…something that pieced together that exact information. If only she had known what it was.

“If I accept this marriage, we have access to Claude’s castle. We can find proof. Maybe he’s working with other people.”

“You can’t be serious,” Dagmara shook her head. “The potential for the trade routes is enticing, but if you accept the marriage, you could be killed the moment you walk across the border.”

“Or…he may actually want an alliance.” Magda turned away from the Scribestone, and the sparkling letters disappeared. “That didn’t quite sound like a mad king to me.”

“You remember him from your childhood,” Dagmara objected. “People change.”

Magda nodded and then froze. Her eyes widened in realization, her mouth slightly agape.

Dagmara shrunk back. “What is it?”

“People change,” Magda echoed before biting her lip, lost in thought.

Odie sat upright, recognizing her shift in emotion. He tilted his head in curiosity.

“I can’t go. We can’t risk him discovering I have Soul magic,” Magda said. “But, forming the alliance would benefit both kingdoms, and if we had access to his castle we could find the proof we need to bring him to justice for the murders. So, we send someone disguised as me.”

“Who?” Dagmara asked.

Magda gave an awkward shrug of her shoulders before gesturing forward.

“Me?” Dagmara gasped. “That’s ridiculous!” She gripped the Scribestone to prevent herself from falling over.

“Just hear me out.” Magda was pacing, lost in furious thought. “We already look similar. All we have to do is dye your hair, put on heels, get rid of that bruise on your eye, say I filled out since the last family portrait, and you’re practically me!”

“Magda!”

“You’re the only one I trust, and I don’t have the sleuthing abilities you do,” Magda tried shifting her approach.

“You’re worried he’s going to find out about your magic. What if he finds out I don’t have magic?”

“It’s far easier to say you don’t want to show it off,” Magda said. “I can’t control it. It could come out at any time and both my life and Azurem’s are over.”

“What about my health?” Dagmara countered. “Guardians are perfect—what if he finds out I’m not?”

Her friend’s face softened. “You can say it’s your time of the month. A man won’t know the difference.”

Dagmara knew she had a point, but it wasn’t enough. “I’m not a princess, and I’m certainly not fluent in Ilusaurian.”

“Neither am I!” Magda shrugged with a sheepish grin. She wasn’t a good liar.

Dagmara let out a sigh, walking over to the spiral staircase and plopping herself down on a step. One way or another, they had to find proof if Claude was behind the assassinations. Dagmara had to know why Bogdan sent her on missions. She had to avenge his and Aleksy’s deaths.

Her heart hurt remembering the coronation.

Magda crossed to her friend, putting her hand on Dagmara’s. “I know you loved my father and brother as family.”

Tears began to well in Dagmara’s eyes. Aleksy’s lifeless body replayed in her mind like a nightmare.

“If you don’t want to do it for them, do it for Teos. The alliance will return the medicine supply. Or, you can do it for me?” Magda gave a half-hearted smile. “Going in my place will protect me more than you staying by my side. I fear declining his proposal more than anything.”

A shimmer in Magda’s eye was the only indication that she was on the verge of tears. She was so strong. There was so much about her that Dagmara admired. If only Dagmara was a guardian too.

For now, she would have to be as strong as she could be, in her own way.

Dagmara wasn’t trained in political negotiations, but she was good with words. If there was a slim chance she could get medicine to save Teos’s life she would do whatever it took. Worst case scenario, she would find the Mad King’s stash of leku and steal it herself.

Dagmara nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Magda let out a sigh of relief before engulfing her friend in her embrace. “Oh thank you!”

An excited bark rang through the room as Odie jumped up onto Dagmara’s lap and nuzzled against them, wanting to join the hug.

The two burst out in a laugh, with a quick moment of respite, wiping away their tears and giving Odie much needed attention.

“What happens if I don’t find proof before the wedding?” Dagmara asked.

“You always have to have everything planned out, don’t you?”

“But think about it…what if he isn’t behind the attacks? Then what? I’m the queen of Ilusauri?”

A soft laugh escaped Magda’s lips. “It won’t get that far. If it does, we can switch. We’ll figure it out.”

It wasn’t the reassurance Dagmara was hoping for. “One more problem. I may have killed the Captain of the Ilusauri guard.”

Jerking back, Magda’s face flushed. She stammered, searching for words, but eventually regained her composure. “All the more reason to agree to this alliance to smooth that over before it is exposed.”

“What about you?” Dagmara asked. “You’ll stay in hiding here?”

“No,” Magda replied. “I have to learn why I have this magic. So I’m going to the source of it. I’m going to Flaustra.”