Page 191 of Settle Down, Princess

“Will stand.” Magnus clapped the man on the shoulder, not noticing the way the guard winced. “The gods are on our side. This moment has been a long time coming, but now I will show the world…”

His speech would’ve been so much more convincing if there wasn’t a puddle of piss forming beneath his feet, forcing the guard to step back lest he be tainted by it. It was almost as if his body knew what was coming: his death. Wars might be fought, soldiers deployed with expert precision, but I knew this. My mates would see Magnus’ head torn from his shoulders in a bloody display that made what happened in the cave with the bandits seem like nothing.

“I am the true born king of Khean. All will bow before me, show me the deference that has always been denied me. Historians will struggle to record every golden moment of my reign. Now, I must prepare. Raven.” He turned to the man who’d brought me here. “Keep my hostages safe while I take a bath. A bath!” he shouted to no one in particular, as if maids would appear from the rooms beyond this. “I require a bath.”

“I will run one for you, Your Highness,” Giselle said, stroking Magnus’ hair. “Almost all of the maids have failed to report for duty and those that did…” She smiled up at him. “Well, we broke them.”

“With the lavender bath salts..?” the king asked, their voices trailing away as they shut the door behind them, no one able to take a full breath until the lock clicked into place.

“What the fucking hell!” Desiree snapped. “I’ve never had any dealings with you, Raven. My man stays out of your stews and I’ve never borrowed a cent—”

“You lived a virtuous life,” the Raven agreed with a nod. “But it doesn’t do you much good when that brother of yours messes with powers far greater than him. You’re lucky I persuaded the king that Roan had one sister, not seven.”

“So what…?” I watched her bottom lip quiver, right before her chin firmed. “I’m to be the sacrificial lamb in a fight I know nothing about? I cooked the dishes asked of me. I laced those pastries with all of that poison in the spice box and more. I did as I was told.”

My hands ached, not because of the way they were tied, but because I wanted to reach out and take hers. I knew exactly what Desiree was feeling, that if we women just did as we were told, fulfilled the roles dictated to us, that we would stay safe. But all of us, even Giselle, were perfect examples of how that wasn’t true. If someone powerful chose to harm us, we had no means to protect ourselves.

Well, apart from Selene.

She shrugged the ropes off, flicking her hands to encourage the blood to rush back to her fingers, then moved to start untying ours.

“I see I taught you well, daughter,” the Raven said with approval, watching Selene work, but not raising that pipe of his.

“You did.” A knife was produced from nowhere, her arm shooting out so that the blade cut a perfect curve through the air, one that came within centimetres of the Raven’s throat. I watched his Adam’s apple bob for a second before he grinned at his daughter. “And you made sure I know how to slice a man’s throat from ear to ear, a lesson I will prove upon your body if you don’t start talking.”

“Being a woman of the cloth hasn’t softened you at all, I see, Selene,” he replied.

“Nothing softens me.” Her words were harsh, but her hands were soft as she gripped my wrists, checking the skin for injuries, then rubbing the pale flesh there. “You made sure of that.” She turned slowly, her movements like a dancer’s, with the same grace and precision. “I am the knife of the Raven of Khean. I cut down the enemies of the Guild without question, follow the directives of my Raven, until…”

Her hand moved slowly, holding the knife up blade out.

“Until his leadership fails to protect every member of the Guild. So, Father, explain to me how causing a civil war is good for business?”

The Raven’s gold teeth glittered in the lamp light as he grinned.

“Revolution is coming one way or the other, thanks to the princess.” He nodded at me, forcing me to take a step towards Desiree. Her hand found mine and we both clung to the other. “So I can either watch the wheel of change roll forward wildly, letting its own momentum carry it on, or…” His arms crossed his chest. “I can ensure the end result benefits everyone.” He nodded to Desiree then. “But most of all, every member of the Guild.”

“You think you have this all under control then?” Selene’s knifepoint came to rest under her father’s chin. “Start talking, Old Man, and we’ll see if you walk free of this room in one piece.”

Chapter 108

Arik

Of course the Raven was involved in all of this. You plucked one strand of his spiderweb and the old bastard would come scuttling out. The question was why, I thought as we followed Weasel through tunnels that had obviously been dug under the city.

The first time I met the Raven of Khean was just after I’d worn the crown of antlers. He’d appeared in my room in the Fallspire manor, the sudden glow from his lamp forcing my eyes to flick open. The prick had smiled at the sight of my bleary-eyed surprise, only widening when I grabbed the bedcovers and wrenched them up and over Ariel.

“So you’re the one they seek to make king.” He peered at me like my tutors did, each one’s nose pinching, their eyes containing all of the disdain they dared not give voice to, though the Raven’s focus was much more avaricious. “I thought for certain I was going to have to intervene before Magnus took the throne, make the king aware of his lady wife’s… indiscretions.”

“Who the hell are you!” That initially came out as a shout, but Ariel shifting restlessly against me forced my voice into a whisper. The duke had approved of our marriage, but he would not have looked kindly on me taking these kinds of liberties. “How the hell did you get into my bedchamber?”

“I go wherever the hell I like, lad, and you best remember that.” His eyes slid to Ariel’s bare shoulder, the hunger there forcing me to growl at him. “And as for who I am? I’m the Raven of Khean.”

“My father…”

I whispered that, aware that the king slept in the room next door. He’d made clear to me what role the Raven played within Khean. In some countries, the Guild was a highly disruptive force, the thieves that joined it pooling their resources to steal from the populace, stymying all attempts by the law to stop them. In others, like Khean, the Raven was received at the king’s table, just not in polite company, because he ran the most extensive information gathering network in the country. My father’s own spymaster was forced to go cap in hand to buy from the Raven regularly.

“Knows exactly what I am,” the Raven confirmed. “He’d have to be an idiot to think I wouldn’t approach you. I did the same to him when I was but a lad myself, just raised to the role of Raven. Thought the two of us could’ve ruled side by side, I did, him on the Emerald Throne, me on the much less grand one I have in my office, but…” His lips thinned. “Your father seemed to think that it wouldn’t be a good idea.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Ariel, so my arm tightened around her. “You might want to listen to me if you want to hold on to that pretty little lady of yours.”

---