Page 121 of Settle Down, Princess

It felt like I’d been riding the edge of fear for so long I couldn’t feel another thing as a strange kind of calm settled over me. What more could Selene say that would shock me more than she already had?

“Are you going to stand by as those idiots bring the country to its knees to keep you safe, or…?”

My eyes slid to the silken bag I’d been gifted by the other temple of the women, and for the first time since I’d been gifted it, I opened the drawstrings to see what it contained.

“Gods above…” Selene said. She had installed me into a room that was saved for high-born women visiting the temple, but once my bags were brought in, we upended the gifted bag and pawed through the contents. “This is harrow powder, and…” She hissed. “Jacama bark?” More names for things I didn’t understand but she did were recited as she looked at each small pouch. “You’ve been given a king’s ransom of poisons, hallucinogens, sedatives…”

“A king’s ransom?” I looked at her sharply. “Could this be sold to the highest bidder to get me some money, some influence, to help put Arik on the throne?”

“So, you do want that?” Selene nodded slowly. “I wasn’t entirely sure. He was doing a lot of talking and you…” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. With this,” the priestess gestured to the contents of the bag, “you could slowly take the king’s mind from him as well as his bodily control. He’d start with small things like losing control of his bladder and bowels at inopportune moments, then he would find his legs going out from under him.” Her hands wove across the different items almost possessively. “This is the means to destroy a man.”

My eyes jerked up, again struck by the similarity between her and Silas’ eyes, but it wasn’t him who looked back at me. Only a woman could know that kind of fear and satisfaction.

“Destroy Magnus?” My mind started to race. “In seven days?”

“Perhaps earlier if you used…” Her voice trailed away as she looked across at me. “You are interested in taking a more active role in the downfall of the king.”

I straightened, standing just as tall as I was always taught to, though for quite a different reason now. Women in Stormare were taught about politics, but only to make clear we had no role in it.

“Arik seems content to make the world burn for my sake, which is more gratifying than I would’ve thought.” Selene’s lips quirked up at the corner as she watched me closely. “But I would assume the women and children of Khean are not to blame for their king’s sadistic impulses. I would prefer a solution to our problem that involves the deaths of far less innocents.”

“Innocents?” Her lips pursed. “I’m not sure they exist within the city walls, but people who are just as powerless as you when it comes to these bastards?” She nodded sharply. “We will find plenty of allies who would grab at the opportunity to strike back.”

Selene took a step towards the door.

“Rest, and I’ll have a bath and some food brought up to you, though for all that’s holy, do not touch the contents of any of those packets.” I jerked my hands back, as if I was a child drawn closer to the flickering flames of the cook fire. “I’ll need to tap some of my networks, see who we have that can get close enough to the king to start administering these agents.”

“A priestess with networks?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “The daughter of the Raven living a cloistered life?”

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you?” Selene replied. “We worship no god, nor goddess, here. Instead, we erect altars and conduct prayer sessions where meaningless words are mumbled.” Her fingers plucked at her robes. “We wear the garb of priestesses because that’s what allows us to do what’s needed.” Her eyes strayed to the bed and the contents of the bag again. “Women are not allowed to simply run a refuge. The fact that we need a space where we can be safe from the predations of men seems to incense them. So we dress the place up in all of the pomp and ceremony they use in their sacred spaces, borrowing that power to disguise our true purpose.”

Her eyes bored into mine.

“Keeping our sisters safe, that is our sacred oath, and we do that for the woman on the street, fleeing her cruel husband or brother or father. We’ll do the same for you, Jessalyn, I promise. I just need a little time to work out how.”

And with that, she turned and left me in the strange room, within a strange temple that was not a temple, in a city I never intended to reach. I paced back and forth for a few seconds to try to dispel the restless energy I felt, before I spied a neatly folded letter sporting my mother’s seal. I reached over and grabbed it, breaking the wax before opening it up.

Dearest Jessalyn,

Every mother feels a sense of unease when her daughter goes out into the world, I’m sure. I know my own mother felt the same. Did she do enough to prepare me for marriage, for being the wife of a king, to become a queen? We talked about it some years later, and her concern surprised me then as, no doubt mine does you now.

I’ve allowed you to leave our city walls to face certain death.

I believe other mothers deal with similar challenges. To see her daughter married to a weak man, one that likes to use his hands to correct his wife, or one that gambles the family coin away, or brings mistresses into their home. Sometimes a mother chooses the wrong husband for their daughters, and sometimes it’s the father.

As your father has you.

When you read this, you will no doubt be furious. Perhaps not yet—

No, Mother had that wrong. My fingers gripped the paper tight, only the need to read on stopping me from crushing it entirely.

—but soon. You have been consigned to a fate no woman deserves. But know this: between your father and I, and the prince of Khean—who is the commander of your guard—we did our level best to try to make the best of an impossible situation, which is why I am writing you this letter.

Men solve things in a direct way because that is a luxury that is afforded them. They’ll tell you this is due to their impressive strength, or wealth, or skill, but much of that is gained due to the unseen service of women. A service we can direct against them if we must.

You must, Jessalyn.

I taught you to be elegant, contained, refined, and modest, but now I must direct you to use all those skills for an entirely different purpose. To glide through the Kheanian court, the picture of a Stormarian lady, as you use the tools all the women of the continent have provided for you to bring down the king…

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