Page 13 of The War Queen's Daughter

I do find myself wondering why the Overprince chooses to hide his true self from the women brought here to choose from. Then again, I’ve barely met them and I don’t want anything to do with them either, so his choice is fair enough. Whatever his reasons, it matters not at all to me. Gorgon is used to long rides, and my mother’s soldiers can protest if they like. I am leaving this fucking place, and nothing can keep me here.

“Princess Remalla!” Whoever is chasing me will have to hurry. I’m almost to that first turn that Altar told me to take, and I can almost smell the outdoors. “Your highness, wait, please!”

“Whatever it is you have to say,” I call over my shoulder, “can be done while I walk. Or not at all.”

“Please, wait.” A hand falls on my arm, the owner of it spinning me around. I face off with a stranger, a woman in lush velvet and silk. Purple and gold velvet and silk. The colors of Heald. “Lady Amber, highness,” she says. “Your mother assigned me here before you were born.” Ah, the ambassador Mother mentioned, her insider in this wretched place. Her face pinches, weakness showing. “I’d hoped to catch you before your audience with the Overking.” She wrinkles her nose at my armor. And she claims to be of Heald. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Home,” I snarl at her. “Away from this,” I wave one hand back the way I’ve come, “humiliation.”

Her dark eyes won’t release me. “Your mother didn’t tell you?”

“Since when,” I grate at Amber, “does Jhanette tell anyone anything?”

I’m surprised that she nods immediately instead of offering any kind of reprimand, hands grasping the skirt of her dress. “I see,” she says. “Your highness, you can’t leave.”

“And you’ve forgotten Heald,” I snap. “The heart of our homeland no longer beats in you to tell me such a thing.”

She hisses, face tight, the warrior she used to be flashing in her eyes. “How dare you?”

“Show me otherwise.” I plant myself, tall, defiant, and eye-to-eye with this stranger who, through no fault of her own, stands in for Mother.

“There are times,” she says in a low voice, “when the sword and the shield turn the tide of war. And times when it’s the heart of an Overprince.” She glances down the corridor back the way I’d come before lowering her voice further. “He’s had a month to choose of them, highness, and rejects them all. His father grows weary of the dance. That’s why you’re here.”

Since I never wanted to marry him in the first place, her attempt to console me is ludicrous.

But she’s not done, one hand unclenching to grasp my wrist. “Please, highness,” she says. “Heald’s time has come. I assure you, he will adore you.”

“I will not scrape and beg for a man’s attention,” I tell her. “Ever.”

“Exactly,” she says, slow smile building. “I may be years and miles from our lands, Princess Remalla, but I am of Heald and, like you, strategy is in my blood. When I tell you that he will not choose one of those pampered frauds, that he longs formore, far too intelligent for a wife without a mind…” she exhales sharply. “I’m sorry the queen didn’t see fit to tell you everything. I assume she knew you’d refuse outright.” Except sheistoo long from home if she thinks I’d get away with that. I’d be here, still, but at least fully informed.

Amber lets me go, folding her hands in front of her. I see the warrior she was still hiding under her dress, beneath the makeup and fancy hair. I can’t trust anyone here.

Even my own countrywoman?

“A week, highness,” she says. “One week. He will fall for you immediately, if he hasn’t already.” So, she knows of my encounter just now. Good for her. “And he will be yours, I swear it to you.”

She’s desperate. Why? Her motives must be suspect.

But where is it that I think I’m going to go? Despite my storming fury and grand attempt at an exodus that’s gotten me lost and only added to the mess, I can’t go home. Not like this.

I have my orders. Damn it.

My jaw tightens. There’s no actual whispering at the moment, but I can still hear it. Will no doubt dream about it. Nightmares of eyes on me, silent judgment, all paired to thesssssssof their secrets and jealousy.

The wild princess from Heald. What does she know of court? She looks like a stable boy in that armor.The scent of Amber’s expensive perfume chokes me in a cloud of mockery, too sweet, too light, too everything I am not. Nor do I ever want to be like her.

But she’s how I’ll end up if I remain.

I wish, with a fierce, aching longing, that I had fought harder, argued better. While knowing nothing would have gone any differently, and that I’m as trapped now as I ever was.

“I have to see to my horse.” My throat is thick, the words hard to form.

“Of course,” Amber says. “He’s at the door?”

I nod and follow on her heels, a trained animal on an invisible leash. I was so close to escape, just a few more minutes, the Overprince’s directions exact. The moment I set foot outside, Gorgon trumpets to me, and a wild, terrible thought rises.

Run. Just run. Race away from here, from Mother. From obligation and the weighty needs and wants of others. Go to the sea, join one of the pirate crews from the Isles. Or find a mercenary band to battle with. Anything but this.

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