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“Ok, now you just pissed me off,” I told her.

I waved my hand, casting a sleep spell over her. Nothing happened.

“Ha! Your magic doesn’t work on me, witch!” the woman laughed.

I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m an angel, not a witch. But no matter. I have other means than magic at my disposal.” I snatched her arm, holding her steady as I duct-taped her mouth. “Why can’t people ever do things the easy way?” I sighed at the struggling woman. “You should have just taken the money.”

“No doubt Lavinia already paid her off,” Aspen pointed out.

“I’m hating this Lavinia more and more with every passing minute.” I taped the receptionist’s arms to the legs of her desk. “There. That should do it.” I secured the tape roll to my weapons belt.

Aspen watched me in fascination. “Why do you carry duct tape around with you?”

I shrugged. “It’s versatile. You never know when it might come in handy. And, look, it just did.”

“You are very strange, Leda Pandora.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

“But I knew I could count on you. You’re a good person.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“Unlike Lavinia,” she sighed.

“Yeah, your former BFF is something else,” I agreed. “How can your society give someone so horrendously morally-bankrupt even a tiny sliver of a chance of becoming your queen?”

“Her chances are far greater than a sliver,” Aspen said. “In fact, Lavinia is the strongest contender. Unless I can stop her, she will in all likelihood become Queen. And as for how my government can let someone like her rule, well, the rules of the Princess Games favor the strong. Too often, the strong are cruel, callous, and completely driven by selfish desires.”

“So the other candidates are just like Lavinia?” I asked.

“Some of them.”

No wonder Aspen was willing to go through so much pain, suffering, and outright nonsense to stop them from becoming Queen.

“So what’s your current Queen like?” I asked her.

“She is one of the good ones,” Aspen told me, smiling. “She was the one who asked me to enter the Princess Games. She wants me to become Queen.”

“She couldn’t just name her successor?”

“No. That’s not how our society works. The new Queen is determined by the Princess Games. No one can sidestep the process, not even the current monarch. But she can influence people. Because she favored me, I would have likely become Queen. Until…”

“Until Lavinia got you stuck in that tree,” I finished for her.

“Yes. Her betrayal hurt more than anything. I thought she was my friend, but then she showed her true colors. She wants to be Queen, and she would do anything to get rid of the competition.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “It will all come back to her in the end.”

“So you believe in karma?”

“I believe in taking karma into my own hands. Now, come on.” I waved her forward. “Let’s see if we can’t snatch just a few minutes out of Mr. Barrens’s very busy schedule.”

We found the notary in the office at the end of the hall. He didn’t look particularly busy, though it must have been quite a challenge to eat a sandwich and play games on his phone at the same time.

“Mr. Barrens,” I said, trying to get his attention.

He didn’t look up from his game. Well, he certainly had his priorities straight.