Twenty Minutes Earlier

“Well, while the boys are outside having all the fun and we’re trapped in here during the battle, is there at least some safe room we can go to?” Allera asked, pacing the Blue Chambers impatiently.

“Whatever for?” Yasmin asked with a laugh. “Don’t you have any faith in your darling brother to keep us safe?”

“He’s not the one I’m worried about,” Allera muttered under her breath. Then she spun to me, revealing all her vexation as she begged, “Vienne?”

I sighed, readjusted the sleeping Anniston in my arms—whom I couldn’t seem to part with after she’d been returned to me—and said, “We could always go down to the wine—”

But Yasmin sharply bit out, “No! We have no reason to hide. The men have everything well in hand, I’m sure. Besides, I hate the wine cellar. It’s so dank and cold down there. I wish to stay up here where I can see what’s happening.”

“If you want to actually see the battle,” Allera bit out irritably, “then why aren’t we up in the East Salon, watching through all that nifty wall of clear rock that’s caused this damn war in the first place?”

“Because the chairs are more comfortable in here,” Yasmin answered loftily, lifting her chin in proud arrogance as she seated herself in the royal, blue-padded, high-back chair of honor where Caulder usually sat.

“Well, I can’t see shit from this window,” Nicolette reported, spinning away from it in a huff. She was the only one who’d actually been trying to watch the battle. “And if I can’t see Brentley, Caulder, Soren, or Urban from here, then I’m not staying.”

“I’m with you,” Allera agreed, flashing forward to take Nicolette’s hand. “Let’s you and I watch the fight from the East Salon.”

But again, Yasmin spoke with biting authority. “No. We all stay in here.”

Her tone brooked no room for argument, which of course, set both Allera and Nicolette in with arguing.

“But that’s insane!” Nicolette cried. “Why do we have to stay with you?”

Allera exchanged a suspicious frown with me before she slowly turned back to the queen. “If we’re perfectly safe, as you insist, then yes, Nicolette has a brilliant point. Why must we stay together?”

“Because…” Yasmin started, only to scowl at us with no ready excuse to back her decision. Then she muttered, “I wish to stay in here. And I want the company.” She waved a servant forward to pour her a cup of tea. “Everyone sit and drink with me.”

“Vienne can stay to keep you company,” Nicolette offered.

I shot the young princess an aggravated scowl.

Like I wanted to be stuck in here alone with Yasmin to suffer through one of her vain little moods as she went on and on about how inconvenienced this dreadfully dull war was making her day.

“Everyone stays,” Yasmin insisted again.

But she’d no sooner spoken the proclamation than a commotion rose from the main entrance of the room, where the guard stationed there was being set upon by two bare-chested ruffians, one wielding a spear while the other swung a battle axe.

At first, I could only blink because it was such a peculiar sight to behold. The Donnelly man, garbed in full metal armor with a stately crest of all black with a diagonal blue line striped through the center, looked quite civilized and cultured next to the men who wore nothing but leather skirts and sandals. It didn’t seem to matter how they dressed, however, when it was one sword against a savage spear and battle axe.

Before the other two Donnelly guards who’d been stationed at the other doorways could reach their comrade, he’d been cut down and killed, which left all three doorways free for two more savages to stream inside.

Nicolette screamed and surged toward me, clutching my arm for safety, while Allera appeared at my other side, backing into me as she faced out, as if she were trying to protect me.

“Excuse me!” Yasmin cried in outrage, surging to her feet from her chair to demand, “What the devil is the meaning of this?”

Meanwhile, the four primitive-looking intruders finished off the last two Donnelly guards in short order. Thinking fast, I thrust Anniston into Allera’s arms, making the babe squawk out her displeasure.

“Take her,” I begged desperately, peering into the eyes of Urban’s sister. “Treat her as if she were your own.”

“What…?” Realizing what I intended, she immediately shook her head. “Vienne, no!” she begged. “You can’t. Urban…”

“The queen can’t fall,” I said in a steady voice I didn’t feel. Inside, everything shook with absolute terror. “If the queen falls, then the king isn’t far behind. And if the king falls…”

“Checkmate,” she whispered, her eyes filling with understanding tears.

Holding my gaze, she pulled Anniston’s forehead up to her mouth so she could kiss the babe, her way of telling me she’d take over mothering my child if I no longer could.

I nodded my thanks. “And tell him I love him,” I whispered before spinning away to rush to my sister.

When I ripped her tiara off without preamble and shoved it onto my own head, she cried out her shock. “Vienne! What’re you—”

“Shh,” I hissed, pushing her toward Allera, Nicolette, and a single cowering maid servant. Then I took her place, standing in front of the throne chair. “I’m saving your life. Trust me.”

The four intruders turned their attention my way.

One man grinned a golden-toothed smile and advanced slowly as he swept his gaze over me and then toward Yasmin, the maid, Allera, and then Nicolette. “Well, look at all these lovely, young skirts we got in here. What pretty little titties you each must have, but alas, I don’t got the time to go sampling. We’re only here for the queen.”

I lifted my chin and stepped forward. “How did you get in?”

Proud of how queenly regal I sounded and that my voice didn’t shake, I narrowed my eyes on the men, demanding answers with my cold, hard stare as I hoped to stall them until I could think up a plan to save us all.

Gold-tooth merely grinned. “Same way my friends who took that baby got in.” He tipped his head toward Anniston who was crying fitfully. “Though it looks as though they failed their task since the brat’s still alive.”

So, they must be from Far Shore as well.

Nodding once, I admitted, “They did. As you will fail as well, I’m afraid.”

The four of them facing off against us laughed. “Is that so?” one of Gold-tooth’s friends asked as he grinned and licked the blood from the Donnelly soldiers off the tip of his spear. “And which one of you is going to stop us?”

Grinning crudely at Nicolette, he took a step in her direction, making her whimper and leap closer to Allera.

I held up a hand, not sure what else to do. “I will,” I said. “You mentioned you only wanted the queen. So, then take me. Leave everyone else in the room alone.”

Gold-tooth paused. “We were told to kill the others.”

I lifted a single eyebrow. “Well, I’m telling you not to.”

Guffawing, he mockingly bowed before me. “In that case, of course, Your Majesty. Whatever you wish.”

I nodded and stepped toward him. “Lead the way, then.”

They would’ve taken me, post haste, but Yasmin ruined it all by crying, “Wait, what? No! You think she’s the queen? She’s not the queen.” Leaping in front of me to block my path, she opened her arms wide and faced off with the Far Shore bandits. “I’m the only queen here.”

I blinked, frankly astonished my sister loved me enough to take my place. I’d been so sure she would simply let me die for her, but no, here she was, fighting to save me.

Flustered because I hadn’t planned for this scenario, I let out a nervous laugh. “Thank you, my love,” I told her, patting her arm before nudging her firmly back toward the other women. “I appreciate you trying to save me, but—”

“No,” Yasmin roared with vehemence as she glared at me and snagged her crown off my head, pulling hair with it. “She’s a lying bitch. I’m the queen.”

Suddenly, I wondered if this show had anything to do with my safety as much as it did her own vanity.

“Well, now…” Gold-tooth murmured, scratching his beard as he eyed both me and Yasmin. “I know one of you is surely a liar, but which one. Hmm?”

Allera handed my baby off to Nicolette and then stepped forward so she could gently take Yasmin’s arm and draw her back. “Come now, my lady,” she urged softly. “Let them take the queen. That is her wish.”

Yasmin only jerked away from her, glaring. “She’s not the fucking queen. I am.”

“No, she’s the queen,” Nicolette insisted as she pointed to me, her finger shaking and eyes filling with tears that streaked down her cheeks. When she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry,” I could only smile and nod my head in gratitude.

Next to Nicolette, the maid, nodded as well, collaborating with the princess’s story. “That one’s the queen, she is,” she insisted, pointing to me.

“Well, the vote’s unanimous, then,” Gold-tooth exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “We’ve finally found our queen.” He gripped my arm and swept out a hand, grandly inviting me to go with him.

“No!” Yasmin insisted. “That’s my sister, you idiots. You can’t take her!”

Both Allera and the maid grabbed her arm, keeping her with them. She began to struggle against them, growing even more vexed.

“You’re making a huge mistake,” she screamed after us as the four men walked me from the room, one in front, two flanking me, and one behind. “You’ll pay for this, you imbeciles.”

“Damn, she’s an annoying one,” Gold-tooth announced on a relieved whistle. “Thank God she wasn’t the queen after all. My ears would’ve bled dry to listen to that harping all the way back to Far Shore.”

I glanced over my shoulder just in time to catch sight of Allera picking up a sword from the floor off the body of a fallen Donnelly guard. I shook my head at her, silently begging her not to follow us, but I’m not sure if she saw my warning or would even heed my command if she had.

“It’s alright now, Your Majesty,” Gold-tooth leaned in closer to murmur soothingly. “We’re taking you to Prince Murdock and getting the hell out of this place. Just a few more minutes, and it’ll be over. Then you’ll be free.”

Free? Prince Murdock?

I frowned at him, not sure what he meant as he directed me into the Red Chambers, where a fifth man, also in nothing but a leather skirt and sandals, paced the room as if waiting on something.

When he saw us, he surged forward expectantly. “Have you got her?” he asked eagerly only for his gaze to latch onto me, and a scowl to mar his brow. Pointing, he demanded, “Who the fuck is this?”

“It’s your lady, the queen,” Gold-tooth answered happily, only to glance at me apprehensively and add, “Isn’t it?”

“No, that’s not the fucking queen, you idiot.” He smacked Gold-tooth on the back of the head and then stepped closer to me to get a good look at my face. “She looks familiar to Yasmin, though. But she is most definitely not the woman who’s been assisting us these past few months.”

My mouth fell open, shock consuming me.

Yasmin, I thought with a sickening horror. What the hell have you done this time?

“Eh, sorry there, Prince, but there were two of them going on about it, insisting they were the queen. We must’ve taken the wrong one.”

“Yes, I’d say you did,” Prince Murdock growled, still staring intently at me. Then he waved his fingers toward the door. “You three… Go back and fetch the true queen. Lachlan…” He glanced toward Gold-tooth. “Help me make this imposter more comfortable, would you?”

I backed slowly away from the prince as the other three ran off to retrieve Yasmin. When he stepped slowly toward me, I suddenly realized just how absolutely terrified I was. I hadn’t had a moment to really experience the emotion yet. But now… Now it blared through me, like a warning horn, making me momentarily dizzy, my vision going unfocused as my breathing picked up uncontrollably.

Prince Murdock’s stare certainly didn’t ease my anxieties, either. “So…” he said, quite lasciviously. “You must be the sister.” A slow smile spread across his face. “I wonder if your breasts are just a pretty as hers are when they’re bared to a man’s eyes.” He moved even closer. “Do you prefer to be on top as well?”

I shuddered. Eww. How could Yasmin stomach being intimate with such a foul beast?

“You’ll never find out,” I swore, smacking his hand away and spitting in his face when he reached for my chest.

Shock, then instant rage, filled his features before he backhanded me. “Bitch!”

Pain exploded in my cheek as I stumbled backward. But he didn’t let me fall. He grabbed my wrist in a punishing grip and yanked me flush against him, sneering.

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that. Painfully.” He leaned toward me to wipe my spit off his face with the cloth of my dress, using the very area that covered my breasts as his towel.

I clenched my teeth hard and struggled, tugging against his grip and trying to kick him through my heavy skirt to no success. Failing spectacularly at that, I gave up on the attempt in order to jerk my face forward, head-butting him right in his jaw with much better results.

The satisfaction I got from watching his head snap back and blood gush from his nose quickly died when he cursed and balled up his hand before plowing it into the side of my face.

Seeing stars, I stumbled away from him, tripping over a small foot stool sitting in front of a chair and windmilling my arms as my feet went airborne. I landed hard on my back, momentarily dazed by the breath-stealing land.

The few moments it took me to get my wind back and realize the skirt of my dress had fallen up to my knees, he was already on me, grabbing the hem and yanking it up further. I tried to shove and kick him, but he pinned my legs apart with his knees and ordered, “Grab her hands.”

When calloused fingers manacled my wrists, I growled, “No!”

I thrashed for all I was worth, trying to wiggle my hips out from under Murdock as he hoisted my skirt higher.

Oh God. This wasn’t working. I wasn’t fighting them off. Cool air washed up my legs, and horror spiraled through me as he exposed me bit by bit. A chill raced up the back of my neck, the shock paralyzing a part of my brain, so that all I could think was, “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This can’t really be happening.”

I was already trying to process the fact that someone had stolen my baby earlier this very day, that a traitor had helped enemies infiltrate the castle, that a neighboring kingdom had invaded my beloved Donnelly, and my own sister had deceived all of us. Now this. Why this, too? Why?

No matter how I struggled, I just could not buck the bastard off me. Tears of frustration and terror filled my eyes.

Being as bare-chested as he was, there wasn’t a lot of clothing I could use as leverage to fight back with, either; it only put me into direct contact with his slimy skin, which unnerved me all the more.

“Time to pay, bitch,” he leaned down to murmur, flashing me a smile that pitted a dimple in his cheek.

I wondered if I’d have to stare at that dimple the entire time he violated me. Would I have to watch his smile as he finished and came? Would he laugh as he pulled himself from my broken, used body?

Dammit, no. I didn’t want this to happen.

For some reason, I thought of Urban. Would he be able to feel my pain and have to experience it with me? That made it even worse.

Then a voice roared, “Hey!” from across the room.

And I was never so elated to hear that familiar baritone in my entire life.

Gold-tooth let go of my wrists and sprang to this feet to deal with Urban, but the prince on top of me seemed determined to finish what he’d started. Turning my face toward my one true love, I met Urban’s gaze just as he knelt down on one knee and slid something across the floor straight toward my face. I didn’t even know what he sent my way until I reached out and wrapped my hand around the hilt of a dagger.