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“We’ll get to that later,” said Dagmara, using the wall as a support as she climbed to her feet. “Just get ready. Go through the motions. I promise you I’ll find a way to stop the ceremony.”

CHAPTER 7

Dagmara

Her mind whirling, Dagmara laid flat on the chaise in her suite, staring at the ceiling. She was supposed to be getting ready for the coronation, and now she was devising a plan to sabotage it. And Magda…with Soul magic? It wasn’t possible. How was it possible? She was biologically the child of a Life Guardian. Right?

And now Azuremi knights were scouring the streets for a dead man. The man she killed.

Sabien Renaud.

She clamped her palms over her face, blocking out the light that exacerbated her headache. She couldn’t think about Sabien. One step at a time. For now, the coronation was the priority. The people of Azurem couldn’t know Magda had magic belonging to a different guardian line. They would say she had no place being an heir to the Azuremi throne.

She wished she could ask her brother for advice, but he was with the nurse to regain mobility in his injured leg, leaving her alone. Surely Teos could help her come up with a strategy. By the guardians, if only her head didn’t feel like it was shrouded in a thick blanket, maybe she could think clearly.

Sabotage the coronation.

Dagmara laughed. Bogdan certainly wouldn’t let her become Magda’s knight after that.

The door opened abruptly, and Dagmara jolted upright in alarm. Darkness danced in her vision at the sudden move, but as her vision cleared, she saw Aleksy in the threshold.

He was frozen. “Sorry, I should have knocked.”

She was both shocked to see him and relieved. Her battling emotions continued to spiral out of control until she suppressed them all. “It’s fine, come in.” She propped her feet underneath her, sitting upright.

Aleksy closed the door behind him. “Please tell me the Ilusaurian you killed wasn’t Ilusauri’s Captain of the royal guard.”

“Shhh!”

“Teos isn’t here,” Aleksy said before crossing to her in three strides. “Dagmara, answer me.”

“There…is a strong chance it was the same man,” she admitted.

Aleksy cursed under his breath before running his hand through his silver hair. He plopped down on the chaise beside her. “It’s alright. We’ll figure this out.”

“We?” she questioned. “I’m the one who killed him.”

He grabbed her hand. “We’re in this together.”

She could feel her stomach erupt with emotion as she felt his touch against her skin, but she had to focus.

She pulled her hand back. “I have…stuff to do.”

“Stuff?” He let out a single laugh. “Really?”

She shrugged. “I have to get ready for the coronation.”

He stared at her intently. “I know you do. I was only coming here to ask about Sabien Renaud, nothing else.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but I have more important things to think about than Sabien at the moment.”

“What could possibly be more important than the captain’s death?”

“Is this captain really that important?” asked Dagmara. “We haven’t associated ourselves with Ilusauri in years. I’ve never heard of him in my life.”

“My father knew him. When people find out that King Bogdan’s royal assassin has murdered the Mad King’s Captain? That’s an act of war.”

“I can’t think about that right now,” Dagmara blurted out. “I have other major concerns on my mind.”