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I pinned her harder against the wall, my hand ready and my sword still on her neck.

Slice it. It will be easy.The issue would be getting rid of the body. Obviously, I couldn’t just murder a maid in the middle of the palace and walk the halls with her bloody body over my shoulder.

“Did my father send you?” I whispered, my eyes narrowing at her.

My heart was erratic, beating loudly in my chest, and none of the techniques taught to me were any use in calming it down.

She caught me off guard.

Her eyes widened, and she brought her bottom lip between her teeth. A face of pure innocence. One that might have had another person putting away their weapon. But it only had me pushing it harder into her.

Maybe it would be worth getting caught. The princess could probably help me clean it up.

“I come with a message. But before I say it, please don’t take this the wrong way. You have to understand that I never wanted?—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. None of the act,” I growled. “Did they or did they not send you here to make sure I completed my task?”

She grimaced. “Yes, but?—”

I pushed her away in disgust.A babysitter.She would be the one to constantly feed information to my father and the organization, constantly watching and waiting until I completed my job.

We are not safe here. I need to kill her.

“Tell them I don’t fucking need it,” I growled and turned away, unable to keep my body from shaking with fury. “I have it under?—”

“That’s not all.”

I turned back to look at her. The scared act she had been putting on was gone, and a full-on smile spread across her face.Thiswas the type of person who went to the boarding school. She had a job to do, and not only would she get it done flawlessly, but she would also have fun doing it.

This is the type of person the school breeds.

Ruthless killers who took joy in the terror they were putting their victims through. She thought this was a game.

“You have a week,” she said with a light laugh, “before I take matters into my own hands.”

I’ll kill her. Kill her and dump the body somewhere like they did the feeders. I will need to wait until night. Have Cedar guard the princess. No one will ever?—

“Should I be worried that you’re not paying attention to me?” Aurelia asked from her vanity, brushing her slightly damp hair from our time in the shower together.

She had told me about throwing her old one out the window. Looking at the room, one would never suspect she had ruined it. The window was back in place and allowed the sun to shine through. The vanity had been replaced with another one just like it. Not a thing was out of place.

Just like the king when it comes to covering up anything related to the failed wedding.

I wished their hiring was as good as their cleanup. Seriously, how many of us would be able to sneak in here before they noticed?

“Needy now, are we?” I asked, giving her my best attempt at a smile. She seemed to accept it.

She didn’t need to panic, not over this. It was my mess, and I should be the one to clean it up. Maybe I could even get Cedar’s help. If she wasn’t too mad at me for my comment earlier, that was.

“Hey, our contract states that?—”

“Have you ever thought of leaving?” I asked her.

She pursed her lips together and straightened. An oddly serious move from her.

“Many times,” she admitted. “Growing up as a spoiled princess wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

There was a joke woven through her words, but there was something heavier behind them, too.