Page 6 of Façade

“…Prince Ryland.”

I stilled, my ears perking at the name I’d spent most of my life cursing. I’d been engaged to the Prince of Brimoire for three years, but our arrangement had been in the works for far longer. Each diplomatic visit did little to improve my impression of the man two years my senior: though handsome and proper, he was painfully dull. At first our relationship had been polite, but lately, underlying tension had riddled our interactions the more frequently we were forced into one another’s company. The engagement was one of the sole aspects of my lost life I hadn’t spared a single thought to mourn.

The mystery of why my former fiancé’s name was being whispered about so far from the royal court compelled me to linger. Cold seeped from the stones as I pressed my back to the wall and held my breath to listen. Dim light shrouded the narrow alley, making it impossible to discern who was conversing, but their voices drifted to reach me.

At first the exchange remained inconsequential. I was forced to listen for several minutes before I could glean anything useful, leaving me to wonder at the wisdom in relying on the guidance of a random dream. But the conversation eventually shifted, compelling me to lean closer so I wouldn’t miss a single word.

“It’s growing more dire—while my family was able to escape, most are still bound to the cursed land. The situation seems utterly hopeless. Their Highnesses must do something before it’s too late.”

“Surely Prince Ryland’s engagement will be enough to save us?”

“Will the Estorian royals truly give up their power so easily?”

“Luckily, there are ways to overcome any potential resistance. I trust our royal family to succeed in acquiring what our kingdom desperately needs, one way or another.”

The voices faded as the two men left the alley, leaving me frozen with shock. I wanted to dismiss the words I’d overheard as nothing more than a baseless rumor…save for the fact that my dream had led me here, the workings of the power filling Estoria whose primary purpose was to protect the royal family.

Piecing the clues from the vague conversation together that I’d only stumbled upon through Estoria’s magical guidance led to one devastating conclusion: Prince Ryland was currently engaged to the true princess, the sole heir to the magical Estorian throne…and had plans upon their union to exploit that power by any means necessary.

During the meetings I’d attended in my final days as a princess, I’d vaguely heard some discussion about a mysterious blight Prince Ryland’s kingdom was rumored to suffer from, one that the surrounding kingdoms were doing all within their power to investigate the validity of and, if true, they would refocus their efforts on how to contain it so it wouldn’t spread to our lands. If it was a curse, only magic would cure it…but Estoria simply didn’t have enough to give up willingly.

Should we lose this resource, the powers that guarded our borders from invasion, allowed us to grow enough crops on our limited land to feed our people, and which we used in trade to protect our fragile economy would disappear, thus crippling our kingdom.

Which meant Prince Ryland would do whatever it took to get his hands on it…even marrying a magical princess in order to take it by force. If he should succeed, then history taught through the surrounding kingdoms that had already succumbed to such a fate that once taken, our magic would become corrupted and would cease to replenish, causing us to lose the precious resource that guarded our borders and caused our crops to thrive. Such a fate would spell disaster for our small kingdom, putting us in a precarious position with the several larger nations that surrounded us, who already coveted the power only protected by our sole heir.

That woman used to be me, until that mantle had been taken up by the real Estorian princess. In that sense, I no longer needed to concern myself with the prince’s shady political maneuvers, yet my anger still swelled. How dare Prince Ryland exploit my kingdom in such a way? His union would rob the real princess of not only her magic but her chance to use it the way it’d been designed: for the benefit of Estoria’s subjects.

My fists clenched. That couldn’t happen. Destiny had worked with Estoria’s magic to lead me to this particular place and time so that I could learn of Brimoire’s ill intentions and put a stop to them…and I would, no matter what it took.

Yet my lingering bitterness quickly coiled itself around these noble intentions, choking my resolve. I debated within myself whether or not I truly had an obligation to protect the kingdom who’d ill used me and the parents who’d stripped away my identity along with their love; surely as a decoy I’d served the crown enough. But despite my hurt, I couldn’t just suddenly hate the people I’d loved my entire life. If I lost these precious feelings, I’d truly be left with nothing. Hurt, anger, and guilt for those feelings warred within me, but none of the emotions were as strong as the sense that I wanted to make them proud.

I wondered if it’d be enough to send a warning to my former family and be done with the entire affair, but my years within the political circles had taught me that such a devious plot wouldn’t be so easily thwarted. Politics required skillful navigation, so if I hoped to beat Prince Ryland at his own game, I was left with few options. Gradually, a plot began to form, one that felt both utterly mad and like a single shaft of hope breaking through the clouds.

Though whispers filled Estoria’s capital about my being a fake princess, there was a chance the knowledge hadn’t yet made it past our kingdom’s borders…which meant that Prince Ryland didn’t know I was a decoy, giving him the impression the woman he was engaged to was stillme.

Which meant I could marry the traitor in the true princess’s stead, and thus protect my kingdom’s magic from his greed. Such a role could only be fulfilled by me, the former princess.

My heart recoiled at the plan, even as my mind recognized the wisdom of it. I was under no illusion that this solution was a permanent one, but it was currently the best course for protecting the people I couldn’t help but still love despite them no longer being my subjects. It’d be a sacrifice to be sure, but what better fate than to give myself for the good of my kingdom and for once do something right by the role I’d spent my entire life masquerading? If I should succeed, then perhaps my life wouldn’t have been entirely without purpose.

Decoyhad been the role my kingdom had given me, so I’d do my best up to live up to it, no matter the cost…and with the consequences should I be discovered, that cost would likely be the ultimate price. I hoped whatever magic had chosen me for this role would also protect me so it wouldn’t come to that, and I’d be able to use the time to find information to pass on to the king and queen that could benefit my kingdom, yielding additional purpose in this mission.

I yearned to claim that honor motivated such a decision, but while it did in part, in truth, my sense of inadequacy that’d come from the rumors I’d overheard and my resulting sense of failure outweighed any sense of nobility. In addition to doing what was right, I wanted to make my former parents proud, to prove I could live up to the role they’d previously entrusted me with. In the end, it’d change nothing about my circumstances nor return anything I’d lost that I still held dear. But if it could make my lifemeansomething…

As I walked the remaining distance to my single room, I began to carefully plot the logistics of my scheme, for once finding it easy to focus my thoughts on a single topic. My attention only became diverted by a sudden sensation of the back of my neck, a prickling that gave me the sense I was being watched.

I slowed and glanced back. The alley appeared abandoned, but though I didn’t see anyone, I sensed an ominous presence lurking within the shadows, as if the darkness itself were alive. Anxiousness swelled, accompanied by icy fear that seeped through my chest to clamp around my heart.

Was I being followed?

I wasted no time lingering before I increased my pace, as if I could outrun whatever force caused this unnerving sensation. I hadn’t gone far when white-hot pain suddenly nicked my cheek at the same time something whooshed past me, hitting the stone wall with aclankbefore clattering to the ground.

A knife!

I whirled around for the source of the surprise attack, but my mind had barely registered the bulky form looming before me when my adrenaline kicked in, urging me to escape. I nearly tripped over my skirts as I turned and ran, the echoing of my footsteps against the flagstones accompanied by the mysterious intruder in hot pursuit.

His presence closed in on me, and his grubby touch had just grazed my back to grab hold of my hair…when suddenly a pain-filled grunt pierced the shadows, followed by the sound of someone hitting the ground hard. Fighting for breath, I risked a tentative peek back and startled to a stop, my heart leaping to my throat.

The man who had been pursuing me lay collapsed a mere meter away, dead.

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