Page 86 of Decoy

“I’m not so foolish as to expose such information to anyone when the threat remains unmasked; the man figured it out on his own.” It was insulting he even considered it.

His Majesty stared me down a moment before turning his astonishment towards Luke, who only continued to smile with a sense of triumph, confident of victory even so early in the confrontation.

“Rest assured I have no reason to expose the secret; my wish is only to protect theprincess.”

The king frowned. “While your wishes to protect Princess Evelyn are admirable, they don’t grant you the right to impose your presence upon a private audience with her. You will leave.”

Guard Silas eagerly stepped forward to escort him out, but Luke crossed his arms in stubborn refusal. “I’m afraid I cannot leave theprincessalone with you.”

His tone remained respectful, but I still felt it unwise to speak in such a manner towards the king; Luke certainly enjoyed living life on the edge. I tried to catch his eye to give him a little shake of my head, but he was too immersed in the exchange to notice.

“Are you implying we would ever harm our daughter?”

“I’m implying nothing of the sort…but you have no reason to care about what happens to the woman whoisn’tyour daughter.”

His gaze flickered towards me, brow raised in silent challenge, to which Their Majesties responded with silence. He smirked before looking past the king and queen towards Princess Evelyn, who was watching everything unfold in nervous silence.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Such dramatics.” But as much as the man deserved a thorough scolding, I couldn’t keep the fondness from my indulgent look before I cast a more dismissive one towards Her Highness. “In the course of my own investigations, I’ve come to discover that Luke is quite good at uncovering secrets. I’m curious what Her Highness insists on speaking with me about…or do you merely want to gloat at the one sent to the chopping block in your place?”

Her cheeks darkened. “I didn’t mean—I had no intention of—”

“You don’t need to attempt to explain that my life is meaningless to the royal family for whatever business you currently have with me.”

Despite my attempt to appear brave, my words wavered, the fear that remained my constant companion until I finally secured my freedom. She studied me so knowingly I worried she’d glimpsed this falter in the vulnerability I fought to keep masked.

“Blair, was it?”

I started at the sudden address; other than Luke, no one had used my name since Zeke’s death. “How do you know my name? I don’t believe I divulged it to Their Majesties.”

“It was told to me.”

And I already had a suspect in mind. I kept my gaze averted, but beneath my skirts I searched for Luke’s foot to tread on his toes; by his quiet chuckle, it proved to be little punishment. As usual, the man was thoroughly unrepentant.

“I see.” I scrambled to regain my composure. “I had no idea you’d interacted with my…acquaintance.”

While I’d obviously known he’d met with the princess, I’d imagined the exchange to be thoroughly business rather than them engaging in a cozy chat about me, leaving me frustratingly curious over what had been said.

“The events of our meeting matter little,” Princess Evelyn said. “I desire to learn of the progress in eliminating the threat against our crown…as well as to make you a promise in exchange that my family will uphold our end of the bargain to grant you your freedom once you find whom we seek.”

I yearned to believe her so that I could finally escape the constant cloak of death to embrace a future outside the royal family’s reach, one absent of fear and filled with the freedom to live a life of my choosing.

“I have little reason to believe you’ll have any use for a woman condemned to die even after I give you what you need. It’d be too dangerous to keep me alive with all the secrets I’ve come to uncover, and death is the simplest way to silence someone.”

“Death seems a poor reward for the invaluable service you’ve rendered me and my family,” she said. “We consider the identity of the mastermind behind the threats against our kingdom of the utmost importance. You can be assured we will keep our promise and grant what is most important to you.”

I lifted my chin. “Such a trade would indeed be equally beneficial if I could trust it, but words are meaningless. I want an official promise issued with the royal seal.”

The queen frowned. “Do you truly doubt our word in such a matter?”

“You’re asking me to gamble in this game of trust with my life. My previous experience with the royal family only testifies that the odds are already against me, especially considering you’re the ones who signed my execution warrant.” My festering hatred burned. They’d sentenced not only me, but Mother, Father, Zeke…my entire family was dead because of them, and I would never forgive them for it. “My execution warrant isn’t my only grudge against you. Not with the punishment I so recently received despite my having done my best to uphold my part of our bargain.”

I carefully studied their reactions to see whether or not they knew of the advisor’s actions in sending me back to the dungeon.

The king bit his lip. “That was truly unfortunate. Please be assured we had no knowledge of that particular decision; our advisor acted alone.”

He appeared sincere, but I was still reluctant to trust him, a fact which only made my next course of action to convince the royal family of Sir Rupert’s treachery more difficult.

“With evidence that he’s acted beyond your orders, who’s to say he won’t act alone by taking me to the noose when this is all over?”

---