CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Lord Selwyn will move quickly.
It’s not entirely unexpected, then, when he offers to serve drinks at dinner and spends a little more time than necessary with my glass.
It’s not entirely unexpected when he overrides the passcode to my suite and slips inside a few hours later.
The knob turns almost soundlessly, but it would have woken me if I’d been asleep. He looks around, making sure I’m alone, checking the time on the tech screen by the door. The lamps are on, but they’re dim. He crosses the room to my bed. I’m mostly buried in blankets, but he can see my hair across the pillow and the shape of me underneath, so he knows where to aim.
He has rope in his hands. He ties it to the curtain rail, constructing a clumsy noose. He picks up a spare pillow. Hesitates. He doesn’t look happy. I didn’t expect that, this last flicker of mercy.
And then he presses the pillow over my face.
It’s not really my face, of course.
I open my wardrobe door and step out into my room. Selwyn’s face goes deathly white. It’s hugely satisfying.
“It’s a dummy,” I say and walk forward to pull back my blankets, revealing the wig and the synthetic, humanoid shape underneath. “The Hundred and One use them when they train.”
Lord Selwyn opens his mouth and a choked sound comes out. “It was a mistake.”
“Yes, it was.” He’s a reptile without teeth now. He wouldn’t have come here if he hadn’t been certain I wouldn’t wake. He’s immersed in politics and deceit, but he’s not an especially talented warrior and he knows I’ll win if he tries to attack. “A mistake, but not an accident. You murdered me. Or tried to.” I point to the tech screen on the table by the door. “And I recorded every second of it.”
“The drink—”
“I didn’t even taste it. But I did send a sample to the lab at the university and they should have the results for me tomorrow. Some kind of tonic to make me sleep, I expect? And then you meant to come here, smother me, and hang me from my curtain rail to make it look like I did it to myself? Did you really think anyone would believe that?”
“What do you want?”
“You know, you could have avoided this trap. You could have accepted the end of this war, but a shared crown was never what you wanted, was it? You wanted to control the one and only king. I expected you to be so angry you would feel you had no option but to get rid of me once and for all. You didn’t disappoint.”
“What do you want?” he rasps again.
I’ve struggled with that question. “I planned to present the video and the lab results to the war council tomorrow,” I say. “They wouldn’t have been impressed with the attempted assassination of a royal princess. You would have been tried for treason and possibly executed. At best, you’d have spent the rest of your life in prison.”
Lord Selwyn licks his lips nervously. “You said you planned to do that. You’ve decided otherwise.”
“I’ve decided to let you go.” I wonder if I’ll regret this. “I want you to leave. Tell the king and queen you wish to retire immediately. Do whatever you must to convince them it’s what you truly want. You have three days to retire from the war council and to leave Kali for good. I don’t care where you go, as long as you never try to hurt my brothers again. If any more attempts are made on their lives, I’ll show the war council what you tried to do to me. If you try to communicate any kind of advice to Elvar from wherever you are, I’ll show the war council what you did. Are we understood?”
He spits the words out like they’re poison. “Yes. I’ll go.”
“Oh,” I add, “and if I die before you do, don’t come back. I’ll make sure that you’re exposed even if I’m not here to see it.”
“That isn’t an if, Princess,” Lord Selwyn says softly. “If you continue to collect enemies at this rate, I am entirely certain you will die before I do.”
“Get out.”
He slinks away.
“Very nice,” Amba says from behind me. I swivel around, startled. Her eyes are bright. I think it’s the most impressed I’ve ever seen her. “Tricking him with a false you? Very nice indeed.”
“Did you see it all?” I ask indignantly. “Did you know I wasn’t in the bed? Because if you just stood by and let him smother me—”
“Don’t get worked up, Esmae,” she says. “Of course I knew that wasn’t really you. I know you better than that.”
I give her a somewhat bewildered look. “Thank you?”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’ve been around an awful lot lately.”
“Why wouldn’t I hover?” she asks. “You are on the cusp of a fatal duel, you know.”
I turn away. “There won’t be a duel. Did you not see what happened today? The war is over.”
“The war hasn’t started yet,” she says, and is gone.