Page 24 of The Mad King and the False Queen

They reached the upper balcony. There was a side door, nearly concealed by the way it blended in with the wall. Making sure no one was looking in their direction, Aleksy opened it, revealing another set of stairs.

Letting out an exhale, Dagmara readied herself.

“I can do this by myself,” Aleksy said, noticing her hesitation.

“No.” Steeling herself, Dagmara scaled the next flight of stairs. She wasn’t going to let the flights of stairs stop her, not in a moment like this. They were about to fool the entire kingdom, and she wanted a front row seat.

By the guardians, she would be in bed the rest of the week.

They reached the third-tier balcony, this one closed off to the guests. It was almost amongst the rafters, and there was no seating, just a simple ‘U’ shaped roundabout. A thigh-high wall barricaded the edge of the balcony, and a few pillars supported the weight of the ceiling. A few of the banners and flags were tied off to the ropes along the rim of the third floor, revealing the behind the scenes of the glorious display on the ground. It was lined with stained glass windows, casting in pastel colored hues. They weren’t nearly as large as the ornate windows on the second story, but they were still the size of a full-grown man.

At the center of the balcony, Aleksy lowered to a crouch on the ground, his elbows resting on the balcony wall while he peered at the sight below.

The ceremony below had already started, and a sage was reading in a booming voice from a scroll at a central pedestal. Magda was sitting in her throne, completely done-up in her blue dress, and her silver hair fell loosely around the crown. Beside her, sat King Bogdan and Queen Bernadette.

Dagmara crouched down, leaning her back against the wall, facing the opposite way of Aleksy. She didn’t need to see the scene yet. She would know when the display began. For now, she was catching her breath. She wanted to loosen the corset around her waist, but decided better against it, remembering it was concealing the dagger that she had used to kill the Ilusaurian captain. There were too many people here, and it made her nervous.

“Do you think it will work?” Aleksy asked.

Unable to answer right away, Dagmara steadied her breathing, her heart pounding against her ribcage. There was a shooting pain at the center of her ribs, and she clutched her chest, waiting for it to cease. “Fooling the entire kingdom?” Dagmara panted. “It has to. We don’t have another option.”

“And what happens after the ceremony?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do the three of us take this secret to the grave? Shouldn’t we tell my dad?” Aleksy fired question after question. “Someone is going to find out eventually. Then Magda won’t be the only one to blame. All of us will go down with treason.”

Dagmara put her hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be alright,” she said. “Let’s get through this plan first. Then we will come up with another. No use figuring out what comes next if we don’t know this will work yet.”

Aleksy gave her a soft smile. She thought he was reaching for her hand, but instead, he removed her hand from his shoulder. “It’s almost time.” He stood to his feet, getting a better vantage point, but still remained in the shadows. No one could see them from up here.

The gesture stuck with her. Was he mad she was roping him into this? Did he blame her? She was only trying to help Magda.

She couldn’t think about any of that. She shook her head, readying her breath, when a shadow flickered in her peripheral vision. It could have been a trick of her eyes, or a cloud masking the sun. However, the hair on the back of her neck rose in alarm.

The room felt eerily silent, except for the echoing voice of the sage downstairs, and she could hear her own breathing. There was a creak in the rafters, and her heart lurched in her chest. They weren’t alone up here.

She looked at Aleksy. He was focused, his hands at his sides, and his gaze dead set on the center of the room below, waiting for his sister to approach the fountain and display her magic. A blue sparkle began at the center of his irises. She couldn’t distract him now.

Quietly, she scrambled to her feet, ducking in a crouch as she rounded the ‘U’ shaped balcony. She let her palm skim the wall, making sure she was underneath it. The last thing she needed was to cause a noise and have the whole audience—or one person for that matter—look up and see Aleksy orchestrating the magic.

Slipping between two columns and brushing underneath the backside of a few ropes holding the banners, she saw a figure. Whoever it was remained crouched, their head barely peeking out over the wall. She scanned his appearance, first noting his thin-soled shoes. He came from a warmer climate than theirs. The glistening dagger on his belt notified her that this was not a friend from the court. Then she saw his black doublet, stitched with silver.

Whoever this was, they were Ilusaurian.

CHAPTER 10

Magdalena

Magda’s stomach dropped when she heard her name called. The royal sage was standing in the center of the room, beckoning for her to come to the fountain. This was the moment of truth—the moment where the entire room expected her to put her powers on display.

Magda stepped forward, off the platform and toward the central fountain. She was aware of hundreds of gazes, scrutinizing each one of her steps with their beady eyes.

“Princess Magdalena Krol, you will now officially become a guardian upon your own display of water magic. Only you will know how your powers live inside you.”

Magda gulped, scanning the two levels of balconies above for any sign of Aleksy in the darkness. She knew he was hiding in order to conceal his magic. She never doubted that he would be there for her, waiting in the shadows, ready to exhibit the water magic in her place.

Magda nodded toward the sage, showing that she was ready.

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