Aella

I couldn't have waited in Readris until Aethan came. Every day that I waited put me at risk of being discovered by court members and adepts, and I feared Mirax more than anyone else.

If my plan failed after all this effort it would result in horrible consequences for everyone, Aethan especially.

I needed to go somewhere that my father would never think to look. He knew something was fishy, the body we had left behind as a decoy couldn't possibly fool the court physicians. But leaving so suddenly before the betrothal journey would leave him no choice. He would have to summon Aethan so long as he could not locate me. He wouldn't dare harm my brother now.

"Princess," Bris' gruff voice came from my right side. "The city defense will be asking questions if we show up at this hour. It's best to wait for nightfall and enter by another way."

I frowned. We had come all this way to Awning only for him to now tell me about this? "I trust you know a place."

"I attacked this city once. Our forces dug tunnel paths under the walls leading into the homes of our spies. I know several entrances my lady."

I gritted my teeth. Using the invaders' entrance to my city left a bitter taste in my mouth. So that was how they had infiltrated us so quickly.

The sacking of Awning some two years ago had left the city broken and poor. The remaining inhabitants had been abandoned by Readris, and despised the royal family. My return to this place was conditional.

I could never return here as the heiress to the throne.

"What about your contact, my lady? Is she ready?" Bris did not trust any of my contacts, and would've preferred to spirit me off to the Eastern Isles. But my father would expect me to be there. Even now I was sure the majority of his attention was placed on the islands, searching for me.

"She is ready. I have a new identity waiting for me in Awning. I don't plan to leave my home, captain, no matter what the south thinks."

Bris was a captain under the Ambassador of the South. He had returned here the long, perilous way, over the land bridge of poisonous gases and steam specifically to help in my rescue.

My father was the cause of this. He was the one that made me resort to siding with our past enemies.

After sitting on the council for eight years I began to notice several things about our courts. The Winter Court, under Archduke Nario, used to be a stalwart supporter of the realm. But ever since the war began my father took too many liberties. He pressured the people and he dominated the councils. The summer court had all but conceded, but the Winter Court were discussing new options.

I couldn't idly sit by any longer when my father suggested handing over Aethan to be their warden. Knowing Lord Nario he would've taken it like a bargaining chip and eventually killed Aethan to make a statement.

In a city like Awning though, so close to the lords of the Great Plains as well as the winter court lords, it was the best place to rally those most likely to stand against my father.

He would never have thought that his sweet little girl could've possibly ever turned against him. My punishment would be terrible if he ever caught me again.

"Bris, when you last invaded our realm didn't you think it strange that you weren't met with an army? Didn't you wonder at how easy it was to take Awning when most of our army is within a hundred leagues all around?"

Gris cleared his throat before answering, looking away from me. "The last time I came I was too wrapped up in the victory to think about it. But ever since it has plagued me. There was hardly a banner army here, local guards and farmers and fishers who were fighting with kitchen knives and axes."

I nodded. "My father is the reason for that. All the lords of the court know. The people of Awning probably know, it's not very hard to guess." I scuffed the ground with my boots as I walked. The last of our horses had been sold three days ago. They were shabby things but travelling without them would attract less attention.

I rose my eyes to the star lit heavens instead as I told Bris what happened. "My father ordered the regiment to retreat before the southern force could arrive. No aid was sent to Awning in the first place, even though he sent crows with messages that promised the army was not far away. I saw the messages myself. I believed every word in them. I was a fool."

Awning was called the city of orphans now. A place where fathers did not exist and where mothers were few. It was a city of the very old and the very young, where only the Faith had been brave enough to return ever since the invasion.

"Your father is a monster," Gris stated sincerely. He eyes told me he couldn't imagine a king would do such a thing. He clearly had only begun to see the kind of person my father was.

"So am I," I replied and Gris started, turning to look at me in alarm. Before he could speak or try to reassure me I stopped him with a raised hand. "If I learned one thing from my father is that it takes one monster to kill another, and that the stories about heroes aren't true. So yes, I am a monster, captain. I'm the monster he made. And now I'm going to kill him."