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“I’m not sure I fully grasp why she distanced herself from you, but I have a feeling some of it had to do with your siblings. Your brother in particular was quite vocal about having you shipped to a convent.”

“Whatever for?”

“Given your mother’s secrecy around your parentage, he considered you an embarrassment.”

“That’s interesting, seeing as how he was the one who had to be carted to the palace on numerous occasions for getting so drunk he passed out. Usually in a brothel.” Avera had felt sorry for his wife who had to pretend to not hear or see the snickers of those who mocked and pitied her.

“Your brother might have had the title First Prince, but he was an idiot and a bully. Your mother worried about him becoming king.”

“It is slightly baffling to me that so many countries rule by blood ascension rather than ability. Shouldn’t the people have someone competent in charge who values their wellbeing and not someone who happens to have simply been born to be a royal?”

“Centuries of habit, my queen. And what other way would they choose? Trial by might? You could end up with a brute. Intelligence? How would you measure it? Same with compassion, or courage. What makes a good ruler?”

She sighed. “It just feels wrong to suddenly be given such a lofty position, especially since I never was taught any politics.”

“The thing you need to know is everyone lies. Everyone is greedy. If they cozy up to you with praise, be suspicious.”

“You make it sound as if I can’t have friends.”

He arched a brow at her. “I wasn’t aware you had many as it was.”

She didn’t. She usually preferred her own devices. “Thanks for pointing that out,” she grumbled.

Since Avera couldn’t bring herself to sit in her mother’s chair, she retrieved the ledgers and chose to perch in the window seat—which Gustav didn’t approve of.

“You’re making yourself a target.”

She waved a hand. “The window overlooks the lake and there are no ships. I’ll be fine. And, I will add, you don’t need to hover.”

“Yes, I do. It’s only been hours since the murders.”

Only hours? It felt like forever already.

“Well, you’re going to get mighty bored since I’m planning to read.” With that, she opened the ledger and began perusing the contents, and within minutes was bored at the itemization of every single thing. From shipments received, exports, squabbles among lords, crimes that resulted in arrest.

It led to her mind wandering, pondering the incongruity of her mother’s final words versus her actions.

Her mother had loved her. Something Avera had yearned for as a child but given up on as she grew older.

How different?—

Boom.

A sudden rumble shook the palace.

She eyed Gustav and he frowned as he murmured, “That sounded like an explosion.”

It was. It took only moments to find out the cause.

A bomb in the dungeon had exploded, decimating the corpses of the assassins.

The revelation led to Gustav glancing at her and muttering, “Good thing we didn’t linger during our examination.”

Good thing indeed. Twice today she’d evaded death. Would she be so lucky a third time?

Chapter 5

Nothing recognizable remained of the assassins’bodies, just chunks of flesh spattered all over. The complete destruction had Avera saying, “They must have planted the bomb after our visit to eliminate the evidence.”