WHY COULDN’T IT HAVE been anyone other than her mother? Fighting any one of the highly skilled guards at the castle would be preferable to dealing with the Duchess Genria.
The one nice thing Kyra could say about her mom was that she had forced her to become friends with her cousin Ariana—even if it was for a silly reason like sharing cosmetics charms.
Before that, Kyra hadn’t been allowed to meet her cousin at all, even though her room in the palace was only three halls away. And two staircases, and a dumbwaiter.
But the queen hadn’t wanted to take any chances with her daughter, so only her husband, her sister the duchess, medical professionals, and Ariana’s nurse were allowed to see the princess.
The young Kyra would sit hidden under a staircase just down the hall from the princess’s room and wait to catch a glimpse of her.
More often than not, she heard only screeching and tantrums.
But who could blame her cousin for throwing tantrums when she was all locked up like that? Kyra was sure that if they met they’d be best friends. They were cousins, the same age, and they both lived in the palace. It was perfect.
So Kyra was forever grateful to her mother for helping her and the princess become best friends. But gratitude wasn’t the same as trust; she knew better than most that the Duchess Genria did nothing that didn’t benefit herself in some way.
The duchess descended the stairs to the dungeon slowly, each of her steps regal.
Fred bumped his shoulder against Kyra’s. “Did you just call the duchess ‘Mom’?”
“Um, yeah.”
The duchess stepped off the last step and addressed Kyra. “Why do you insist on trying to kill your cousin?”
“I’m not trying to kill my cousin!”
The duchess raised one fine eyebrow. “Just now you chased the princess through the hall. Don’t tell me you weren’t trying to kill her.”
“Mother,” Kyra said, “if you ever listened to me at all, you would know that something strange was going on with Ariana. That person I was chasing isn’t my cousin. Didn’t you notice that there was another Ariana who was WITH me?”
“Can we back up a minute?” Fred asked. “The duchess is your mother? I thought you said you’d run away from home.”
“You told him you ran away from home?” the duchess said.
“I did!”
The duchess chuckled. “Well, you didn’t run very far, did you, dear? The Potions Academy is practically connected to the castle.”
“You didn’t talk to me for two years! Not until you thought I’d be useful to you by ‘socializing’ Ariana.”
“Pffft! You’ve always been so imaginative. Can’t understand where you got that from. Probably your father. Do you have any idea what you’ve done to him? Our physician is upstairs with him right now trying to calm him down.”
Fred interrupted. “And the princess is your cousin? Am I getting this right?”
“Yes, Fred,” Kyra said. “Ariana is my cousin.”
“Doesn’t that make you…?”
“A princess,” the duchess said. “I was born a princess, so my daughter is a princess, as well. Of course, I prefer to go by duchess, my married title. Princess sounds so young. Fluffy.” She shuddered. “Kyra has always eschewed proper titles. She could at least go by Lady Kyra, but no, not our Master Potioner.” The Duchess snorted. “She not only insisted on blemishing the family name by working, she had to go and claim the potioner title.” The duchess clapped her hands together. “Enough. You’re coming with me.”
“You’re going to turn me over to the king’s soldiers?”
“We need to get things straightened out. Come along.”
“No.” Kyra took a step back, pulling Fred along beside her. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You’ll have me hanged.”
“Kyra,” Fred said, exasperated, “she’s your mom. She’s not going to let them hang you.”
“Look, Mother, I know that witch was working for you. You had her attack us—she was going to eat me. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“She tried to eat you?” The beautiful features of the duchess twisted in disgust. “You must be mistaken. She was probably just trying to scare you.”
“She was going to eat us. Before that, she tried to enslave us.”
“That woman needs to learn some restraint. I told her to keep anyone unusual traveling through the forest until I got there. I shouldn’t have had to specify that they should remain whole. I pay that witch good money, but she’s always looking out for herself.”
So intent was Kyra on her mother’s blasé rant about the witch that she didn’t notice the soldier sneaking down the stairs behind her.
He appeared beside the duchess, one of Kyra’s own needles in his hand.
As Kyra went to lift the one she held, she felt a small prick on her shoulder.
“That’s not fair!” she protested, just as everything went black.