KINGSLAYER

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The song ended on a low note, just as it had begun. For a split second after the music fell, I locked eyes with Adrik and saw only sincerity in their inky depths. I wondered if he felt the same suffocating pressure I did.

Seconds later, I detangled myself from his arms and smoothed my gown. "As I predicted, your hesitation was pointless," he said, and I looked back up to see him still smiling that infectious smile. "I didn't step on your feet."

My lips twisted upwards as I gestured behind him, where several eager ladies were not-so-subtly attempting to gain Adrik's attention for his hand in the next dance. "It appears I was not the only one to notice your skill, Czarevich."

Stepping back to a polite distance, he said, "We will have to do this again sometime. Much has happened these last ten years that we must catch up on."

"Agreed." My gaze flicked back to the gathering of women who were doing their best to appear as if they did not yearn to throw me outside for monopolizing Adrik's attention. "I wish you a good night."

I took the opportunity to glide back to the front of the room, watching the festivities. Aristocratic and wealthy men of all shapes and sizes danced with beautiful women, all made up and wearing striking ballgowns of every color.

Late into the night, I spoke with governors and nobles that had come to pay their respects. Because of my absence, I only recognized some of them. I made a mental note to study the rulers and authorities of not only Oceana, but all the known world more closely in the future.

All throughout the night, the staring failed to stop. The longer it went on, the more I began to realize it was not the way I wanted my people to look at me. I wondered if anyone here truly believed I could be one of the great rulers. Likely not.

I would make them choke on their disbelief one day.

The ball began to wind down in early hours of the morning. A part of me I kept hidden deep inside was glad to be leaving. Another part of me felt off-kilter when nothing happened to threaten my life. My soldiers found nothing out of the ordinary, no one worth inspecting. There was a twisted game playing out, but I did not yet know what it was.

Sometime after, I found myself being escorted back to the Queen's chambers. Though I had been housed here for the nights since my arrival, I was still struck with awe at the beauty of the rooms. The large canopy bed, covered by soft silk sheets, nearly felt like sleeping on a cloud after the humble living arrangements I had become accustomed to for the entirety of my absence. Several rooms inside the chamber were simply devoted to sitting rooms, complete with plush couches and trickling decorative waterfalls.

Walking through the entrance area, I took a left to my dressing room, in which my eldest handmaiden, Saria Thenjiwe, was waiting at my call. It had taken several handmaidens to get me in my dress and adorn my face with cosmetics, but only one was necessary to remove it all.

Saria bowed when I entered. She had the darker complexion and golden eyes of an Etharian, but when she spoke, there was no trace of an accent in her words. "If you will stand here, Your Majesty..."

I did as she asked, stepping onto the slight pedestal in the center of the floor as she pulled the ballgown and heels from my tired body. Standing in only my underclothes, she gestured for me to sit before the vanity. Staring up in the mirror at her, I watched as she undid the interlocking braids and knots in my hair. It was strange having someone cater to my every need, even if it was something as trivial as taking off a dress. But she was pleased to do it for me. And I was not meant to do it for myself.

"Saria," I said suddenly, a knife slicing through the silence in the room. "How long have you worked here in this castle?"

Her hands hardly even stalled at my words. "Oh, it must be...thirty-one years now, Your Majesty."

Words failed me; she had worked here for far longer than I had been alive. It led me to question what dark deeds in this place she had witnessed and stayed silent about. If she had truly worked in this position for so long, she would have been the last Queen's handmaiden as well. The thought was odd as I turned it over in my mind.

My hair was completely let down, and the handmaiden began working to wash the barely-there cosmetics from my face. "If I may, Your Majesty..."

It was a question she was asking permission to say aloud. "Say it."

"The other maids tell me you met with the Czarevich of Navrika tonight."

"They told you this?" I asked, face comforting into a frown. After months of living the life of a normal citizen, it was strange to have such news about me spread so quickly and taken so seriously.

Saria paused for a split second as she realized her mistake. "I apologize, Your Majesty. It was not my place."

To disregard her unease, I waved a hand in a noncommittal gesture. "What else have they said?"

I raised my eyes to see a small smile grow on her aged face. "They said you two looked good together."

The corner of my mouth quirked up. "Well, I should certainly hope so."

But their statement only strengthened my realization that the aristocracy would expect me to marry for political purposes. I was only going to be nineteen in a few days, and yet my history was already rocky. Once I was officially crowned, my reign could be stabilized with a marriage of convenience, bringing me more power and prestige.

Saria removed the last of the cosmetics from my face. For a moment, I absentmindedly stared at myself in the mirror. My normally straight black hair was curled from being tightly bound in the braided hairstyle. Dark eyes stared back at me, catlike but half-lidded and unfocused with weariness. My bronze skin was beginning to lose its luster from being kept inside all day.

My handmaiden silently exited the chambers through a secret door only she had access to enter through. I left the dressing room and went to my bedroom to finally find some blessed sleep. The night had gone on longer than I had expected and I was thoroughly exhausted by the festivities. In only a few hours, it would be dawn.

This time, I failed to even send a prayer to the Gods before falling into bed. After climbing onto the silky sheets on the high bed, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the plump pillows.

I was unsure of how long I slept before I awoke again. My room was still dark and no sunlight flowed from behind the thick curtains. It was in the middle of the night and there was no reason I should have awoken so suddenly.

But when I sat up, all I could see above me was a figure shrouded in darkness blacker then the rest of my room. In the dim light from the single candle near the door, I saw a gleam of silver. The intruder was swinging a dagger for my drowsy form, seconds from slitting my throat.

The assassination attempt was never going to occur at the ball, where a hundred eyes could see. It was to be when I was alone. It was now.