The young woman pauses, turning to face me. For a moment, it looks like she wants to protest, but she holds it back, choosing instead to nod as I rise from my seat and make my way towards her.
“How long will you need to make your decision?” she asks, tilting her chin up when I’m just steps away.
It’s already made.
“Give me a few days, then I’ll come and find you,” I answer, brushing past her soft hair as I reach for the door handle.
“But you don’t even know my real name or where I?—”
“I said what I said,” I cut her off. With only inches between us, I can smell hints of strawberries, vanilla cake, and some kind of flower. The scent floods deep into my pores, and I can’t help but lean closer to bathe in it. “You’ll see me again soon, I’m sure.”
She nods, her cheeks flushing as her chest strains against her bodice. “I’ll see you in a few days then.”
Reluctantly, I turn the door handle behind her. As she spins away to leave, I coil a lock of her red hair around my fingers.
Forget Hugo. I’m not going to be able to resist tracking her down.
5
KASIMIR
Ruby is a beautiful dancer. She doesn’t notice me as I watch her from beyond the reeds, the black leather of my clothes blending seamlessly with the tall hedgerows surrounding her dance circle.
Her eleven close friends – orhalf-sisters, as I recently found out – don’t notice me either. The twelve of them leap and spin across the stones without a care in the world, occasionally stopping to giggle when one girl bumps into another or when their musicians start up a new song.
In their colourful tutus and pointe shoes, they’re all so similar, yet I can’t keep my eyes offher. Every time she sweeps her leg up, it takes everything for me to not burst through the reeds and run my hands down her perfect waist, her perfect thighs.
After Ruby left, my contacts at the palace managed to sneak me in fairly swiftly, and since then I’ve been gathering information on Hugo and chasing after red-haired maids. Though it took me accidentally wandering into the princesses’ wing to discover that of course my lying Ruby was not a maid at all.
Princess Amaryllis. A beautiful name for the king’s eldest daughter, but I think I’ll stick with Ruby when I finally confront her in her bedchamber tonight. She’ll soon learn how much I hate liars, and how much I hate royals, especially royals related to that shitstain of a king, Sol.
He might think it’s acceptable to impregnate a dozen unwilling women across the realm in the hopes that one will give him a son, but the rest of us certainly don’t.
A laugh from one of the princesses jerks me from my thoughts and marks my cue to leave.
It’s been three days now, and I’ve spent far too long watching Ruby, and not nearly enough time figuring out a murder-free way to get rid of Hugo.
Silently, I crawl past the reeds and back towards the palace, slipping through a narrow hole I made in the hedgerow. I might not care much for any royals, but I do care about the insane amount of gold and jewels I can share with my crew if I complete this job.
I just need to figure out a way to do it.
In the distance, I spot the dark window of Hugo’s bedchamber. The sun is low in the sky so he’s most likely feasting away in the banquet hall. If I can get inside his room, perhaps I can find something to use against him, even if it’s just the name of an illegitimate child.
Keeping close to the bushes, I move quickly across the grass until I dart inside the palace. Hugo’s bedchamber isn’t far, and I’m about to slip inside when I hear the grating voice of my target.
“Do come to bed with me, sweet things. I don’t bite, not unless you ask me to,” he purrs from a nearby corridor.
Heart thundering, I dip behind a suit of armour before the foul prince emerges with two small servant girls, one hooked under each arm.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” one of them stutters. “But we’ll get in trouble if we’re out of our dorm much longer. The head servant likes us to be in bed before nightfall. She always checks in on us too.”
Carefully, I peer out from my hiding place. I can just about make out the youth of her features. Judging by her small frame, she can’t be older than fourteen.
“Yes, please forgive us, Your Highness,” the other girl adds. “We mustn’t stay out late. It’s a risk for us to even be out this far from the kitchens.” My eyes widen as they step close enough for me to see her. She’s probably even younger than the first.
“Nonsense,” Hugo scoffs, keeping his arms around their shoulders. “No amount of trouble is worth missing a night of fun with your Uncle Hugo.” He chuckles. “Bah, I can send for someone to fetch us some desserts. You’d both like that, wouldn’t you, girls?”
Fists clenched, I flick out my dagger from beneath my sleeve. I know Ruby didn’t want him dead, but I can’t in good faith just stand here and wait while he does Stars know what to those poor girls in his bedchamber. There’s no guards here. No one else to protect them. And just the way his gaze skims their dresses makes me feel ill.
