“Whoa there, everybody calm down.” Delmare extended her arm between me and Emma from across the table. “Just chill.”
Emma huffed, and I rolled my eyes. “Okay, fine. Maybe Lady Korva is going after you, because she’s worried about the King’s Contest and thinks I’m going to choose you, so she wants to make sure I can’t compete by taking you out. But that doesn’t explain why she’d go after Professor Waldron, or align herself with the Black Claw.”
“I don’t know. But it’s the best explanation I’ve got.” Emma crossed her arms and sank back in her chair. “But I’ve got no proof. And if Lady Magdalina trusts Lady Korva, then it’d be all too easy for her to sneak around the headmistress’s back and commit murder.”
“Well… let’s find some proof, then,” I suggested.
Emma’s eyes widened, and she uncrossed her arms. “What do you mean?”
“If you think Korva’s hiding something, then she’s a threat to all of us. We can’t just sit here and allow more people to be mutilated or murdered. She needs to be exposed,” I said.
“You mean… you could order a search through Korva’s stuff?” Emma asked.
“I could. I am a prince, and I have the authority,” I said, before I hesitated. “But if I ordered a search, it’d go public. And if nothing was found that was incriminating, it’d be a huge scandal. It would affect my entry into the King’s Contest. I’d prefer we do this a bit more… quietly.”
“You guys aren’t talking about sneaking into Lady Korva’s office!” Kiara squeaked. “That’s strictly forbidden!”
“Not her office. She wouldn’t keep anything here at school. Too risky,” I said. “She’d hide evidence at her house.”
“Breaking and entering? I’m in,” Delmare said, and a wide grin spread across her face.
“Guys, this is really dangerous,” Odette said nervously. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
“Of course I do,” Emma said, without a moment’s hesitation. “Ethan’s right. We have to stop this before anyone else gets killed. You guys don’t have to follow, but I’m going.”
“We’reobviouslygoing to help,” Delmare said, and she wrapped her arms around Kiara and Odette. “Just tell us what you want us to do.”
Odette and Kiara both seemed anxious, but neither one of them backed out. I leaned forward, and their heads came inward toward as I began to whisper. “Lady Korva lives on a huge estate on the royal grounds,” I said. “It’s staffed by guards and servants twenty-four seven, not to mention her husband rarely leaves the estate.”
“So how do we get in without being seen?” Emma asked.
“We wait until nightfall, when everyone’s asleep. She has an office on the third floor. We can scale the walls and sneak in,” I said.
“Or we get the boys toflyus up,” Odette said, and her eyes glittered.
“Odette, no. The more people we involve, the riskier is it we’ll get caught. We can’t trust anyone,” Delmare said.
“I’m guessing bythe boysyou mean Theo, Stefan, and Alexei?” I asked.
Odette bobbed her head enthusiastically, while Delmare mouthedno.I gave it some thought.
“Backup would be nice to have,” I admitted. “Just in case we get into trouble. I don’t want to drag them into this, but at the same time, I trust them. They can create a distraction that’ll make it easier for us to break in.”
“Okay, so let’s go.” Emma got up from the table and started walking. I wolfed down my last cabbage roll and headed after her, while the girls followed.
I wasn’t so sure if Lady Korva actually had anything to do with the attacks, but I did know my aunt— she’d do anything to make sure Elijah got that crown. If she hadn’t committed the attacks herself, I was at least certain she was involved. Something strange was going on around here.
And tonight, I intended to find out what.
* * *
“Are you guys ready for this?”Alexei asked.
We were waiting in the bushes outside of the Zlodia estate. I’d managed to sneak everyone onto royal grounds due to my clearance, but we didn’t have long. There were eight of us here. Eventually, someone would notice we were gone from the university and would sound the alarm. Nearly a dozen students missing from their beds on a Thursday night would cause a panic, with how on edge everything was lately. We had to move quickly.
“Ready or not, we’ve gotta do this,” Emma said. “Is everyone good with the plan?”
There were murmurs of agreement around us. I focused on the house. The Zlodia mansion was massive. It was five stories and built in the Baroque style. It boasted elegance and money.
