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will have seen me,” Rupert said. “They will guess where the blood came from.”

      Angelica hadn’t thought Rupert was that stupid. She’d thought he was a fool, obviously, even a dangerous fool, but not that much of one.

      “People can be bought, or threatened, or killed,” she said. “They can be distracted by rumors, or even persuaded that they were wrong. I have people listening for hints that people are speaking up against you, and any who are will be either silenced or made to look like fools, so that they are ignored.”

      “Even so—” Rupert began.

      “There you go again, my love,” Angelica said. “You are a strong man, a confident man. Why are you second-guessing yourself with this?”

      “Because there are so many ways it can go wrong,” Rupert said. “I am not a fool. I know what people think of me. If rumors start, they will believe them.”

      “Then I shall see that they do not start,” Angelica said, “or that a more suitable target for them is found.” She reached out to take one of his hands in hers. “When you have bedded some noble’s daughter in the past and been too rough with her, did you worry about their wrath?”

      Rupert shook his head. “I have never—”

      “Lying is your first tool in this,” Angelica said, calmly. She knew exactly what Rupert had done in the past, and to whom. She’d made it her business to know every small detail, so that she would be able to use it if she had to. Originally, the plan had been to destroy the prince when she married Sebastian, but it could be just as useful now.

      “I don’t know why you’re bringing this up,” Rupert said. “It isn’t relevant. It’s—”

      “Distraction is your second,” Angelica said. “We will find better things for the people to focus on.”

      She saw Rupert flush with anger.

      “I will be your king,” he snapped.

      “And that is your third tool,” Angelica whispered, moving in to kiss him. “You are safe. Do you understand, my love? Or you will be. The trick now is to shore up your position.”

      She watched Rupert relax visibly as the idea started to sink in. However deeply killing his mother had touched him, he knew how to get away with whatever he did. He’d been doing it for long enough, after all. Or maybe it was the prospect of power that calmed him, the thought of what would follow.

      “I have already spoken to my allies,” Rupert said.

      “And now it is time to get them to act,” Angelica replied. “Make them a part of this from the start. The Dowager’s death is already rumor for the city, and it will be announced formally soon enough. Things must move quickly now.” She drew him to his feet. “All kinds of things.”

      “Which things?” Rupert asked. Angelica put it down to the shock.

      “Our wedding, Rupert,” she said. “It must happen before people have a chance to argue. We must present them with a stable front, a settled royal dynasty to follow.”

      Rupert moved surprisingly quickly when he grabbed her by the throat, the anger there rising up again with dangerous rapidity.

      “Don’t tell me what I must do,” he said. “My mother tried to do that.”

      “I am not your mother,” Angelica replied, trying not to wince at the strength of the grip. “But I would like to be your wife before the day is done. I thought we’d discussed that, Rupert. I thought it was what you wanted.”

      Rupert let go of her. “I don’t know. I don’t… none of this is what I planned.”

      “Isn’t it?” Angelica asked. “You planned to take the throne. Surely you knew what sacrifices that would involve? Although I’d like to think that marrying me is hardly that much of a hardship.”

      She moved back from him. “If you like, it is not too late to call things off. Tell me to leave, and I will vacate Ashton for my family’s estates. Choose to wait, and we will wait. Of course, then you would not have my family’s strength, or their allies. And there would be no one to help you to contain all those… difficult rumors.”

      “You’re threatening me?” Rupert demanded. Angelica knew how dangerous a game that was. Even so, she was going to play it, because the real game she was playing was far more dangerous.

      “I’m simply pointing out the advantages you gain by going through with it, my love,” Angelica said. “Marry me, and I can make all of this so much easier for you. It is better to do it today than a month from now. If I can act as your wife, I have a reason to protect you from the world.”

      Rupert stood there for several seconds, and for a moment Angelica thought she might have misjudged all of this. That he might walk away after all. Then he gave a single, terse nod.

      “Very well,” he said. “If it matters to you, we will do it today. Now, I’m going to get some air and start contacting our allies.”

      He turned and walked out. Angelica suspected that he was more likely to seek out wine than their allies, but that didn’t matter. It was probably even to their benefit. She would soon have them doing all that they should, sending messages on behalf of her husband.

      She rang the bell for a servant.

      “See that the clothes Prince Rupert was wearing when he came in are burned,” she said to the girl who came in. “Then fetch a priestess of the Masked Goddess, and invite the members of the Dowager’s inner council to meet at the palace. Oh, and send someone along to my dressmaker. There should be a wedding dress waiting for me by now.”

      “My lady?” the girl said.

      “Am I not speaking clearly enough?” Angelica asked. “My dressmaker. Go.”

      The girl went. It was strange how stupid people could be sometimes. The servant had obviously assumed that Angelica would have made no preparations for her own wedding. Instead, she’d begun sending messages out for the preparations almost as soon as she got the idea to have Rupert marry her. It was important that this wedding looked as much like one as possible given the short notice.

      It was a shame that there would be no opportunity to have a bigger ceremony later, but there was one obvious impediment to that: Rupert would be dead by then.

      Today had shown the necessity of that more clearly than Angelica could have believed. She’d thought Rupert a man as much in control of himself as she was of herself, yet he remained as changeable as the wind. No, the plan she’d put in place was the way to go. She would marry Rupert tonight, kill him by morning, and be crowned queen before his body was even in the ground.

      Ashton would have the queen it needed then. Angelica would rule, and the kingdom would be better for it. Everything was going to turn out right. She could feel it.

      CHAPTER THREE

      Sophia could only wait as the fleet advanced on Ashton. As her fleet advanced. Even here and now, after everything that had happened, it was hard to remember that all of this was hers. Every life on the ships around her, every lord who sent men, every piece of land from which they came, was her responsibility.

      “There’s a lot to take responsibility for,” Sophia whispered to Sienne, the forest cat purring as she brushed against Sophia’s legs, winding around her with her own impatience.

      There had been a fleet’s worth of ships anyway as they left Ishjemme, but since then more and more vessels had joined them, coming in down Ishjemme’s coasts or from the small islands along the way, even coming out from the Dowager’s kingdom as those loyal to her came to join in the assault.

      There were so many soldiers there with her now. Enough soldiers to maybe win this war. Enough soldiers to wipe Ashton from the map, if she chose it.

      It will be all right, Lucas sent across to her, obviously sensing her disquiet.

      People will die, Sophia sent back.

      But

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