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I would have one of this man’s daughters. A princess of the realm as my wife. In my bed. Maybe her belly would soon swell with my child. Which meant my voice would be heard in the decisions made in the ruling of this kingdom. At last. I felt my father then, reaching to me from the grave, proud, pleased. Finally, the Borderlands would get what they were owed.

The king’s hand settled on my shoulder. “Come now, my lord. We have a great deal to discuss.”

3

Tamsyn

ISTOOD ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PAINTING, SHROUDED INdarkness, with only the thin spread of canvas stretched taut like skin between the men and me. Hidden in the secret passageway, invisible to those inside my father’s chancery, I held my breath.

I was invisible to them, but they were not invisible to me. I saw and heard everything, and the fury pumped hard and fast inside me, battering within my veins like a storm. My father intended to give one of his precious daughters to the Beast of the Borderlands.

One of my sisters.

The man I called Papa—who doted on me alongside his natural-born daughters—would never do such a thing. He would not betray one of his own in this way. Or so I had believed.

I had never felt such rage, such helplessness. All my life it had been my duty to protect the princesses of Penterra. To be flogged in their place was a privilege. There had been a long line of parents offering their children up for the prestigious role. When the queen became pregnant, many had applied. Only I was chosen. It was an honor. At least that was what I had been taught.

My earliest memory was of Nurse sending me to bed without dinner. I was three or four and confused because I had not done anything amiss. Feena, months younger than me, adored playing hide-and-go-seek. She loved it so much she would play it long after Nurse called us in. It had taken over an hour to find Feena that day. Nurse had been in a panic, enlisting the entire palace staff to findthe princess. Eventually she was discovered where she had fallen asleep, in the bottom of a wardrobe in one of the guest chambers.

That was my first lesson. My first punishment. I was sent to bed with an empty belly whilst Feena watched in wide-eyed incomprehension, too young to understand why Nurse, quivering with outrage ather, was sendingmeto bed hungry. I remember huddling in my bed, tears hot and salty on my face, choking on the injustice, my stomach growling with hunger as I stared into the dark, so hurt, so confused at what I could have possibly done to deserve such harsh treatment.

Eventually we would all come to understand, though.

Eventually my punishments would become physical in nature. First by Nurse’s hand, then later by tutors, then by the lord chamberlain. Collectively, they all saw to it that the princesses faced consequences for their misdeeds. ThatIfaced the consequences for their misdeeds.Me.For the thingstheydid. All confusion and hurt ultimately faded as that became my accepted reality.

I was the whipping girl.

I had protected my sisters all my life. They needed to be safeguarded now more than ever—or at least one of them did. Fromhim. The Beast had marched in here with his band of ruffians and his contemptible demand, and my father had conceded.

But I would not.

Outraged breaths fogged from my lips as I glared directly into the ice-pale eyes of the man who thought to claim Feena, Sybilia, or—God help her—Alise. My youngest sister was small and delicate. She would break under this warrior.

Scant inches separated us, the air hot and crackling between us. His dark hair reached his shoulders, the sides braided close to his scalp. I could practically feel his breath through the flimsy barrier. I studied his hazy face through the fibers of the canvas, taking comfort that he could not see me in the darkness of the damp corridor, and yet...

Why had he stopped directly in front of the painting?

Why was he staring at me like hecouldsee me? As though he were on the verge of reaching through the canvas and touching me?

A fever rippled over my skin as I imagined those big hands closing around me.

It was impossible, of course. He could not know I was there.

My gaze flickered over his shadowy face, studying every line and hollow, the intense eyes, the hard set of his mouth. He looked... agitated. Perhaps I had given myself away with a sound. I had thought I was the height of stealth, but it was the only explanation for his fixation on the painting.

The king settled a hand on his shoulder and led him away so that they could discuss the particulars of his marriage to one of my sisters... but not before the king sent a disapproving glance toward the painting. I sucked in a breath.

My fatherknewI was in the hidden passageway.

Of course he did. Papa had lived in this palace all his life. He was the one who had first showed us the passageways when we were young children. I inched back, certain that he would not be pleased with me. For once, I may have earned a whipping all on my own.

I waited as the men continued their discussion, hoping to learn which one of my sisters was destined for such a vile fate, which one was to be bound forever to the infamous Lord Beast, bloodthirsty and vicious, purported to be more monster than man, the last human alive to survive a dragon.

And yet Papa never said a word. Never mentioned who he was promising to the Border King, and the dreadful barbarian never asked. It likely did not matter to the wretched man. The Beast doubtlessly viewed my sisters as being the same. They were all pleasing of face and daughters to the king. Interchangeable. That only increased my indignation. My sisters were more than that. They were individuals and vastly different.

Feena loved animals and was always smuggling one pet or another into her bed, whilst Sybilia would just as soon drink poison than let an animal anywhere near her for fear of them jumping onher and licking her. And then there was sweet Alise, who loved her watercolors and indulged in strawberries and cream every morning. She ate so many strawberries that she smelled of them.

I felt a chill when Dryhten insisted the marriage be performed at the earliest convenience. Papa agreed, assuring him it would be done. It was dizzying, how soon it was all happening. The queen had not even been informed... much less thebride. Everything inside me fumed that one of my sisters would be left at the mercy of a man known as the Beast. Did Papa not fear for his daughter?