The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 5

Oredison Palace, Gazda.
The day before the Welcome Dinner.
Less than two weeks before Sanctus Aurelia.

Lunch yesterday had been uncomfortable at best. Kai hadn't shown and Heidi and Nadia were both attending dress fittings for the Commencement Ball. This left me, Cohen, Kinsley, and Larkin alone with Caine. Cohen had seemed relieved to see me, but Kinsley had bristled at the very sight.

I'd barely made it into my seat between Caine and the prince before she was asking, "Why the costume change, Monroe?"

I blinked at her, the picture of innocence. "What do you mean?"

Her dark eyes raked along my body as I took my seat. "I don't remember you being the sort to wear heels."

I shrugged. "I don't remember you being the sort to care about what I was wearing."

"Oh, I don't give a shit what you wear." Kinsley's smile turned feral. "We've talked about this before. Varos trash is always Varos trash—no matter how you dress it up."

I grinned right back. "Save it for the arena, Kinsley."

Caine only sighed in response before he began making his plate.

I didn't care if she noticed my change of clothes—if she did, good. Let her realize that I was serious, I was going to fight for the throne just as I had the first time. Maybe my motives were different this time around, but my distaste for her wasn't.

I felt Cohen's eyes on me as I ate. I could almost hear the questions he wanted to ask—What's happened? What's changed? What are you planning? And I wanted to be able to talk to him. But even if I could get a moment alone with the prince, I wasn't sure I could tell him about my plot. I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to know what I was going to do.

The truth was that it wasn't exactly a full plan. I knew that Caine needed me to help keep Kai in line. I knew that my friends were expendable. Caine would use Cohen to suit his needs and then he would be discarded. After the Culling ended, everyone would focus on the new queen. Thoughts would move to a royal wedding and royal children. Like Uri, Cohen would now be seen as a spare.

Maybe Caine would use him to form an alliance with a neighboring kingdom, but more than likely, the prince would be imprisoned and kept away from the public eye. The same would be done to Larkin, unless Kinsley became queen and found a way to stop it.

What I needed was to eliminate the ways in which Caine kept Kai under his thumb—or at least eliminate the risks to my friends both here in the palace and in Third Corps. That meant getting my friends out and getting the people in Third Corps away from Caine's men.

My options for doing those things were limited, but I was willing to try just about anything. Uri had climbed the trellises of Oredison palace easily enough. With enough backbone, I knew I could do it too. I also knew, from the night of my escape, that there was a hidden passage in one of the gardens. Uri had told me about it during that first palace attack. I hadn't ended up using it, but she'd given it to me as an option. There were also the tunnels we'd gone through when we'd escaped after Viera's death.

If I could get Heidi and Nadia out of the palace, they could find a way to help the people in Third Corps. And even if they couldn't, they would be out of harm's way. Caine wouldn't be able to use them and it might stall the Culling. It would at least narrow the Culling down to Kinsley and me. It would mean I wouldn't have to hurt either of my friends.

Because I was going to become queen.

I knew this was what Caine wanted—since it would give him permanent control over Kai. He would think that I was playing into his hands. Everyone would think so—Kai most of all. But they would be wrong, I was playing by my own rules. It was the only way I knew how to fix things.