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Even as hypocritical as that is, since he has his own mistresses.

“Honey, I’m home!” Charming yells. My hand covers my mouth, because I have the most inappropriate need to giggle. If I start, I’ll never stop, and my exit into the real world will be cut short.

“Bumbling idiot,” Cinder groans. There’s no love lost between them, which is why Charming enjoys poking her in any way that he can.

The man isn’t terrible, just slothful and uncaring of the kingdom’s citizens’ wellbeing. He believes that his queen has everything firmly in hand, because she did in the beginning. Life actually was pretty good for the kingdom within the first two years of her rule. I have no idea why that all changed.

“Hello, husband,” Cinder says, opening her arms to him as we descend down the stairs.

“You look beautiful as always, my queen,” Charming murmurs, his eyes moving over her. Cinder is a timeless, blonde bombshell. It’s the evil inside of her that makes her ugly.

“You look… immaculate. How are you so clean after traveling for hours?” Cinder asks, pouting. This is one of the many reasons that she hates to travel.

Chuckling, he shakes his head. “I stopped an hour outside of the city to catch a shower and change. Drizella, are you going somewhere?” he asks, surprised.

Charming is pretty oblivious to how badly Cinder treats me, and thinks that I’m interested in learning about diplomacy. She told him that I was one of their advisors now. I really don’t know how this man is able to survive his wife’s machinations. I know for a fact she tried to have him assassinated earlier this week, and only told him to come home for meetings when the attempt failed.

The man is dumber than a box of rocks. It’s kind of sad.

“I…” I have no idea what to say, because I was supposed to be gone before he arrived. Fuck. Come on, sister, help a girl out.

“Drizella is going on an errand for me to help dispatch those troublesome Underground members. Did you know that she’s incredibly talented on the computer?” Cinder steps in smoothly, linking her arm in his as the servants bring in his luggage.

“Really? That’s incredibly selfless,” he murmurs, taking a sharper interest in me. I really don’t want that, so I give a little curtsy to them back.

“I’ll be in touch, Your Majesties. Good day,” I tell them, striding out the door. Gods, I can’t believe it was really that easy. I’m sure that Cinder would have drawn this out if Charming hadn’t walked in.

“Drizella?” says one of the soldiers, stepping forward as I walk out.

“Yes? Is there something the matter?” I ask nervously. He’s not someone who’s hurt me before, but I don’t trust any of the people who support my step-sister.

“No, no. The Queen wanted me to tell you that you’ll be traveling by public car service. Using the royal cars is a red flag for anyone who may be watching the castle,” he explains.

“Okay… None of the services go through this part of the city, and I don’t have a cellphone,” I tell him, stopping and digging in my heels. Something doesn’t feel right, and I’m uncomfortable with his reasoning. Cinder doesn’t have the foresight to think of things like that, which is why I’m in these hideous clothes.

Pushing the point, I sweep my hand toward what I’m wearing. “Aren’t my clothes an issue as well if we’re discussing this at all? The Queen controls my wardrobe, what I eat, who I… Essentially, I can’t so much as sneeze without permission,” I mutter.

“Can you just walk with me?” he asks. Turning, I see the heavy front doors are shut behind me now.

“I’m actually really late and have people waiting for me,” I begin, biting my lip.

“Look, I tried,” he grunts, reaching for my arm and mouth to cover it. Sidney taught me a lot that I’ve never been able to practice before today, but I’m convinced this man is not following my step-sister’s orders and the courtyard is emptier than normal.

Even though my back is screaming as he pulls me toward him, I contort my body so my back is toward him, stomping my heel into his foot. It may be a steel-toe, but the strangled noise he makes is gratifying. Biting his hand, shoving my elbow into his stomach, I finally drop my weight so he’s unbalanced before wrenching my body away.

“You have no idea who I am,” I hiss, taking several steps away from him.

Checking out his palm for bite marks, he shakes his head. “You’re right, I don’t. I think you’re who we need though. I won’t force you, but I’ll get you where you need to by driving you. I’m not actually a soldier for the queen, I’m Underground. I need to get the fuck out of here before I’m caught though, so shall we?”

My legs only start moving because of what he said. “Cinder will… are you out of your Godsdamned mind?!” I gasp.

Smirking, he opens a door hidden by ivy that I never knew existed there. “You’re nothing like your step-sister I see,” he says as I follow him onto the sidewalk. “Can you run in those?”

“It’ll hurt, but yeah,” I tell him, gritting my teeth at how much my feet already hate me.

Taking my duffle bag and backpack from me, he dons them instead to take the weight.

“The ground is filthy, grin and bear it,” he demands. “Run.”