Book 2 -12-

[Making Plans]

ZAIDEN

“Cassidy, what is the meaning of this? Why would you say something like that?” Queen Margaret reprimanded her daughter with a glance at her husband. “Suppose a guard had heard you!”

Cassidy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation. “You can drop the act, mother. Zaiden knows everything,” she remarked.

“Young lady—”

Nope, not happening. “Your Majesty, if I may,” I interjected, stepping further into the room. They weren’t about to talk around me like I wasn’t there. Nor would I allow them to reprimand their daughter when I forced the truth out of her. Well, not physically, still… semantics.

“Let’s get something straight before I offer my help in this coup d'état. Princess Cassidy didn’t willingly expose your plans to kill my father. I forced it out of her when I caught her with a knife to my father’s throat. Rather than spending an eternity in the dungeons, punished on end, she chose the best option: to tell me why she wanted my father dead.”

He