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The second was to create a powerful illusion of all senses. It required one last ingredient, and she planned to obtain it now, among other things...

With this particular spell, the soldiers would have no memory of what was occurring until she released them, which she didn’t plan to do any time soon. She walked around them to approach the carriages, and the two remaining soldiers unsheathed their swords and pointed them in warning.

“Lady Cecily Dyèrie, I come with a gift,” Valerie called once she stood in front of the two soldiers. “I come with the answer you seek.”

She knowingly eyed one of the knights in front of her.

“No, dear child!” a man fretted when the front carriage door burst open. It slammed against the side with a loud bang. “You must not leave the wagon.”

“Quiet, Uncle. She has not attacked us, and I wish to know what she wants,” a woman snapped.

Her brown hair waved around her pale, yet tall, features as she stepped out of the carriage. She was clad in the finest fabric money could buy, frumpy and flaunting her father’s wealth. Cecily proceeded to stomp in front of Valerie until they were a metre apart and shoved her hands on her hips.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Cecily rudely questioned.

Valerie’s eyebrow twitched at her courage.

This was the only daughter of Duke Grayson. She thought she was above others, that the grand title of her father would be enough to protect her. Although Cecily was a vain, eccentric woman, she was also brave in a brutish sense. She had wit, though sometimes dull, and she always walked with an air of superiority only money could buy.

“I am Valerie Faerydae, and not too long ago, I was a white Witch of these lands ruled by your father.”

The young woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. “My father does not allow Witches on his lands. We have burnt many of you on our pyres.”

A large man, much older than his niece, stepped out of the wagon to stand beside her. His full tuft of hair blew in the soft wind while his right hand rested on the hilt of his sword, ready to unleash it at a moment’s notice.

“Ah.” Valerie held up a finger before slowly waving her hand to the side. “You cannot burn what you do not know is there.”

Cecily pursed her lips in annoyance. Then she brushed her hair over her shoulder before folding her arms under her small chest, making her breasts look plumper – something Valerie had seen her do to catch the men around her off-guard.

“You said you come with a gift, the answer to which I seek. You would have to know what I want to give me that.”

Valerie pouted her lips into a knowing smile. “You do not wish to go to the selection gala.” Cecily’s eyes widened a fraction. “You do not wish to marry the king of the north because you are already in love.”

One of the knights in front of her turned his head to Cecily.

“So? I am a woman. What I want does not matter.” Her eyes briefly met the knight’s, and Valerie could see the pain-filled look she gave him. “My father has demanded I win the king’s heart and become queen to strengthen our alliance and wealth.”

“Your father once blessed your marriage to this knight, until he learned of the king’s search for a bride.” She gestured to the young soldier in front of her, then motioned to the frozen soldiers behind her. “What if I could give you an alternative? Already, I have taken control of the men behind me, and by doing so, I can add their confusion to our façade.”

“You wish to take my place,” Cecily whispered, taking a step back.Ah, there is that quick wit.“Why do you want to become queen?”

“I do not,” she answered. “This charade would only last until the gala is finished. Your chance to become queen would end, and I would get what I wanted.”

“And what is that?”

“Something was stolen from me, and Isincerelywant it back.”

Cecily paused to think, her eyes falling over the noble knight she obviously longed for.

Valerie had come up with this plan as she walked through the town closest to her home.

Over the course of the last two weeks, the king of the north had issued scrolls to the five dukes of his lands, asking for a presentation of their daughters. He didn’t trust the kings of the other kingdoms and therefore didn’t wish to take a princess.

It was the talk of many human towns. Valerie thought it might be her opportunity, since out of the five dukes, two of their daughters looked like her. The other one had been much too far away for her to travel to in time, so she’d chosen Cecily.

With that knowledge, Valerie cloaked herself in invisibility to sneak inside the Dyèrie manor to investigate.

She’d watched Cecily sob to this knight in her room about their broken marriage proposal. The duke didn’t care who his daughter married, so long as he was a noble, and this knight was of high-born blood. Unfortunately, the temptation to unite his family with the throne was too much for her greedy father. He was selling her off for more wealth and fortune.