29

I go back inside, quietly closing the balcony doors behind me, and hurry over to the bell to call for Harriet. It takes her a couple of minutes to arrive, and when she does, she looks like she had been sleeping when I rang for her.

“There’s something happening out there,” I say urgently. “Some people were coming toward the castle in cloaks. Is everything okay?”

The sleep vanishes from her eyes, replaced by a sharp look. “I’ll go check. In the meantime, please bolt your doors from the inside.”

Sitting in my nightgown, I wait anxiously once she leaves. An hour passes, then another. There’s no word from Harriet, and the shouting outside has long since died down. My heart is racing. Is she alright? Was there an attack on the castle? Should I go out and check?

When the third hour passes, I can’t take it any longer. I get to my feet and stride over to the door. I’ve just unbolted it when I hear shouting from the hallway.

“You can’t do this!” Harriet’s voice is filled with anger and fear. “I won’t allow you to do this!”

“Get out of my way, Harriet! I am the delegate of the king. And this falls within my duties!”

I recognize Bella’s voice. Her voice is loud, and I hear something new in it.

Satisfaction.

“The king left the queen’s safety in my hands,” Harriet protests.

“Seize her!” I hear Bella command.

Harriet immediately screams, “Your Majesty! Run!”

Run? Run where? Why?

The door to my bedroom is thrown open, and Bella enters, followed by six guards. Her eyes are filled with malicious glee. “Capture her. Capture the fake princess!”

The guards instantly grab me, and Harriet, who is being held by two other guards behind Bella, shouts, “You can’t do this. She’s the king’s mate!”

“She was the king’s mate!” Bella snaps. “Get her on her knees.”

One of the guards kicks me in the back of my legs, forcing me to cry out and stumble forward. Bella grabs me by my jaw and forces me to look up at her. “The true Princess Vivian has arrived. You lied to us all! You dare to manipulate our king?”

“What are you talking—”

All of a sudden, her words register on me. Princess Vivian is alive? The shock has me nearly keeling over.

If the princess is alive, then there is no need for a fake.

“Don’t listen to her, Your Majesty! You are the queen.” Harriet then shouts at Bella, “Till King Cedric comes back, you can’t make any decisions on his behalf!”

Bella scoffs. “Can’t make any decisions on his behalf? I am his delegate. I make decisions on his behalf, and I speak to the elders on his behalf. The elders have already identified the true princess. I am carrying out their orders. This woman manipulated the king and lied to us all. Throw her in the dungeons! And if you don’t watch yourself, Harriet, you’ll be thrown in there with her.” To the guards holding Harriet, she adds, “Lock the head maid in her quarters.”

Harriet is dragged out of the room, struggling in the guards’ grip. Just as Bella is about to leave, she pauses and then turns around, walking over to me once again.

“Before I forget.” She raises her hand, and I see her claws extend. She slashes them down on my left cheek, scoring the flesh. “That’s for turning Cedric against me.”

My heart is pounding as I stare at her, trying to come to terms with what is happening. My cheek burns, and I can smell my blood in the air, but there’s nothing I can say. If I declare in front of the guards that Cedric knew who I was—

I don’t know if I can do that to him. I don’t even know how to defend myself. After all, it’s true. I am the fake princess. But Bella knew that all along. She’s just getting even with me. And Cedric isn’t here to protect me. As I’m dragged out of the room and through the halls, a harrowing thought strikes me.

If Cedric were here, would he have done the same? Would I have received this exact treatment from him?

No. We are fated mates. He wouldn’t—

And then it hits me. There’s no mating mark. He never gave me one.

“She’s an important tool. We need her as Princess Vivian.”

If it truly is Princess Vivian who has shown up here at the castle, then Cedric has the actual princess. There’s no more use for me.

I feel the cracks form in my heart. I have outlived my usefulness to him.

Isn’t it better this way? Now I don’t have to see him do this to me. If it’s Bella, it’s fine. I know she hates me. But if Cedric were to put me through this, I don’t think I would be able to take it. It would break me.

I’m thrown into a cell in the dungeon, a cold, damp room. There’s no fire here to keep me warm. I huddle in the corner in my thin nightgown, shivering, my heart and thoughts all tangled up.

Blankly, I stare at the metal bars.

What’s going to happen to me now? Is Cedric going to kill me? Maybe he won’t. But maybe he will.

I shiver even more, wishing this were all just a bad dream.

I can hear the guards talking outside. I hear my real name whispered. My stomach is in knots as my nails dig into my skin. Anxiety and fear take over me.

What will be my fate now?

 

  

I must have fallen asleep at some point because when I wake up, it’s to ice-cold water being thrown on me. Crying out in alarm, I scramble backward, and I hear Bella’s laugh.

“That’s right. Scurry away. You’re a rat who snuck into our castle. This is where you belong, Leanna. You thought you could turn Cedric away from me? You thought you could humiliate me? Look where you are now! I won.”

I feel sick to my stomach as I stare at her. “You knew who I was the whole time,” I finally whisper, my teeth chattering.

She rolls her eyes at me. “So? And before you think Cedric will come and save you, he has already sent word to have you executed. He wants to get rid of you. He wants this entire dirty chapter closed before he returns. After all, it’s not going to reflect well on the king that he brought in an imposter knowingly.”

“You’re lying,” I state forcefully. “Cedric wouldn’t do that.”

He wouldn’t, right?

I see the flash of anger in Bella’s eyes. “How dare you question me? I hold your life in my hands, Leanna. Don’t you fucking forget that! There was an emergency meeting of the elders last night. Your fate has been decided. You will be executed, and the true Princess Vivian will replace you. Did you really think that somebody like you, with commoner blood, was going to pollute the royal bloodline? Nobody even knows who your parents were. Good thing you’re not pregnant, or I would have to kill your dirty-blood child, too.”

My hands settle on my flat stomach. I am too stunned to speak.

“Princess Vivian has told me everything,” Bella sneers. “You tried to kill her to take her place.”

“Why would I do that when I didn’t even know what Cedric’s intentions were?” I grind out.

“How dare you take the king’s name in your whore mouth?!” she shouts. “Throw another bucket of water on her.”

There is reluctance in the guard’s eyes as he approaches me. If Bella thinks I’m going to beg her not to do it, she’s wrong. The water hits me, and I start to shake violently, feeling the cold down to my very bones.

“The elders are deciding what kind of execution you will face.” She scowls at me. “But before that, Princess Vivian has a few things to say to you.”