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Queen of Secrets.

It would have been better if she’d died, ripped to shreds by the skoupuma. It would have spared me having to keep this secret. A queen without power. No such thing had ever existed.

The Ancestors had accounted for everything in their blasted treaty. Everything except this.

No one would trust her. No one would follow her.

She’d be torn limb from limb. Killed in the middle of the night, sleeping helplessly in her grand bed, in her grand apartments.

A court—a kingdom—a blasted realm where power was more important than anything. The only currency that mattered. And Veyka had none.

I could have lived with it, maybe.

There’d been weak kings and queens on the throne of Annwyn before. I had enough power for the both of us, to protect the kingdom.

But she’d lied. Not just to me—to everyone.

Every breath she took was a lie.

They would punish her for it.

Arthur would not be the last to die.

The traitors within this court would wrest power from her, then make her watch as they systematically killed everyone she cared about. Parys. Cyara. Gawayn. If I’d marked the affection she tried so hard to keep hidden, so had others.

Footsteps.

The shift was instantaneous, not even a thought. Wholly outside of my control

The snarling growl gave way to a howl that turned into a roar.

Running.

Run, run, as fast as you can.

Run away from the Brutal Prince.

Recognize me for the beast that I am.

Be afraid.

Fear would be the only thing to keep her safe. Fear of the unknown. Of secrets and lies.

I didn’t shift back. I didn’t know if I could. The beast held sway. He looked around the room, the lavish apartments fit for a king. I’d never wanted the crown. I’d hated my power from such a young age. My power had ripped me from my family and my home. My power had made friendships impossible, connections impossible, isolating me until I was nothing more than a weapon honed for battle and bloodshed.

But I would do it. I would sit on that cursed throne, for the good of the kingdom and family I’d left behind, for the good of Annwyn.

For a brief moment, I’d thought Veyka would sit beside me. Truly. Not as a figurehead, but as my Queen. My partner. My equal.

How wrong I had been. Not a Princess of Peace, but a Queen of Lies.

I’d been right to hate her. I hated her still.

I hated everything she stood for—her selfishness, above all. Not a care for her kingdom, for the families in Baylaur and beyond who depended upon her. All Veyka wanted was revenge, and to save her own hide. A selfish princess, and nothing more.

And she’d made me complicit. I would have no choice, now, but to keep her secret. To guard it, to maintain the fragile peace between our two kingdoms. Another burden, laid at my feet, because I was powerful—because I, above all others, could handle it.

Fuck that.