Ruby traversed the Village with hurried steps, head straight and without making eye contact with anyone she encountered, her visit to Arielle running in her mind.

"We hope your mission was as we hoped?" Arielle had asked.

"Yes, Your Highness. She did not realize what was coming for her."

"How much did you pay the men?"

"Ten-thousand, Your Highness," she had replied.

"You could have waited until we sent Soldiers."

"There was no time. I was afraid she would disappear for good."

The new High Priestess merely nodded, looking at her intently before breaking into a gentle smile. "You were gone quite long. We were afraid you were running away with her."

"I would never do that, Your Highness. Belcourt is home, and it was always my intention to return. Please forgive me for taking such a long time. I had to gain her trust."

"I understand." The High Priestess then stood. "File your reports to Jade and go back to your villa and await your next mission."

She had meant to go, but she could not help but say, "I was not able to learn what happened with the ship, Your Highness."

Arielle's face had gone tight. "We lost a few Soldiers, and others are still in captivity."

"And Reginald?"

"Your Mistress will give you relevant information." Arielle faced her, a smile still pasted on her lips. "How is Mother Marissa?"

The question sounded innocent, but Ruby knew better. "She is doing remarkably well, Your Highness."

Arielle nodded. "Is she healthy?"

A chill tingled through her spine. "Yes."

"I hope she visits us soon. She is a splendid mother, is she not?" By then, Ruby was stiff. "I mean, for the children."

"Yes, of course, Your Highness."

She knew her days were numbered the moment she walked out of the Palace. And now, as she stepped into the Tea House, she had a feeling this might be one of the last moments she would be in Belcourt.

The woman with dirty blond hair straightened in her chair as soon as she saw Ruby. Beside her was Shay, brown hair in disarray, as if she had been doing naught but cooking and cleaning all day. "Why are you still here?" Ruby asked under her breath, taking the seat across from Fatima.

"We were in the dungeon," Fatima said, looking around. Of course, there were no marks on the woman's skin, no sign of her suffering in the dungeon. "They found a copy of the article under my bed."

Ruby turned to Shay. The woman nodded. "Likewise."

"And Carrie?" she asked.

"She was able to go out," Fatima said. "They never suspected her."

A despondent smile crept up Shay's lips. "But we hope she's not going anywhere near Aliya or Mason."

Ruby understood their fear. Arielle must have had her reasons for letting some women go, but graciousness was not one of them. "They may still be watching those who left." She looked around the Tea House and smiled at Keisha as the woman served her tea. She waited until they were alone again. "I may not be able to come back into Belcourt for quite some time." Or mayhap never. "Arielle is suspicious."

"What about the Sutherland Post?"

"They are still doing their best, but it will not be enough to help us." She clasped her hands together tightly. "Once I leave, I'll find help."

Fatima leaned closer. "The Circus?"

Ruby shook her head. "No... I don't know. Maybe. I just know I can't do nothing."

*****

Ellise's eyes never left the queen, and the woman did not seem bothered by it. She looked nothing like her children. Her hair was black with streaks of white at the temples, her eyes also as dark as the dress she wore. But she had the same stature as Esther—petite and seemingly frail. They knew better, of course.

Beside her sat her sister, Theodora, who was older by five years. Side by side, no one would think they were related. What were the odds that Theodora could have been the queen, and Helena the one sent to Belcourt? Did they ever wonder? Growing up, did they ever think they could have had the fate of the other? Mayhap they did not and they merely accepted it, norm as it was in the Vandenberg family.

The carriage came to a stop and the queen remained still. She waited until the door was opened and Ellise and everyone was out before she did the same. As her feet landed on the ground, she looked up and threw Prince Emory, her son, a look. Was she disappointed that he decided to work with the Royal Circus? Her sister, too?

The doors swung open and the queen and Theodora were both ushered to the drawing room where Esther and the others were waiting. Ellise, however, stayed behind. Dior stopped beside her, frowning. "What is the matter?"

"Go on ahead. I need to talk to the other Royals."

As soon as he entered the room, she made a sharp turn and hurried down a corridor, made a wrong turn, and eventually found herself outside in the garden. Looking around, Ellise quickened her pace and hid behind a bush. And she retched just before she threw up everything.

Her brother had warned her about this even before they left Herst months ago. She straightened and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Her mind had raced to many things when she first suspected it: denial, then self-blame. She threw her head back, hands on her hips, closing her eyes.

Bloody hell.

*****

"What is the meaning of this?" Esther demanded, rushing toward her mother, stopping just at the exact distance allowed: two feet away and nothing less. "Mother."

The queen tore her eyes off her and they landed on Leo. The tiny twitch of her brow was enough to show her repulsion. "I want to be alone with the princess." When no one moved, her next word was spoken more sternly. "Now."

The men were the first to file out of the room. Sasha, the Duchess of Eaton, lingered a little while, studying them, before she, too, quietly left, gently closing the door, as if to tell them it was their only way out and that they were not utterly alone.

"Tell me you have a plan," Esther said under her breath. "Surely you do not mean for me to put myself in that place. Tell me you're just playing them all." She was desperate. Her mother was the most cunning woman she had ever known. There was always a reason for everything. "Tell me you are not working with these people."

But the look on the queen's face told her otherwise. And Esther shook her head. "No, please, I will not go there. Not alive!"

"Esther," her mother said, voice bare of emotions as always. There was no tenderness where the queen was concerned. She was not that kind of mother. Not like Caroline's who would fret over everything Caroline did. No, the queen was different. If she was ever worried about her daughter being abducted, she was not showing it now. She was not even asking how Esther was because it was obvious she was well and alive. And that's why she was queen. That's why Esther wanted to be like her. To show tenderness was to show weakness. And in their world, a woman could not be weak. "The best way we can regain control over Belcourt is if we infiltrate it again."

"You are the queen. You can do something about that bloody, useless place! Burn it down! I don't care!"

"Stop being stupid."

Her mouth shut tightly, a reflex reaction to those words she had heard too many times before. "She'll kill me."

"Not if she wants your father's attention." Her mother stepped forward. "That's all she wants. It's petty, but she's just like everyone else in Belcourt. She wants recognition from the person who gave her life."

Esther understood her mother's words too well. Was that not what she thrived for all her life? To be acknowledged?

"She has more to lose if she kills you. It would be Belcourt's end if the kingdom is forced to take action and overtake the institution. As Vandenbergs, we do not want that to happen as well because Belcourt is our kingdom."

"Then what do you want me to do? Be like the other Vandenberg children you throw inside that place? Go to the gates and open them for the Royal Circus who has all the reasons to see our downfall?"

"No, of course not." The queen's voice was lower now, almost a whisper. At that moment, a tiny glimmer of hope sparked within her. This was the moment her mother would tell her of her plan. And by the way her mother stepped closer to whisper in her ear, her faith was restored. Indeed, Queen Helena always had a plan.

*****

"Is everything all right?" Robert asked Ellise when she joined them outside the drawing room. "You look unwell."

"I'm fine," she lied, catching Sasha's gaze. Merely a month ago, the duchess gave birth to a son. Yet now here she was, working with her husband. Their son was being guarded together with Reginald in an undisclosed location only the Royal Master and Darcy knew.

Sasha walked toward her. "May I have a word?"

They both turned. Sasha led her back out into the garden, pace slow. "How are your symptoms?" Sasha asked.

Ellise's jaw tightened. "Getting worse."

"But you're almost certain now?"

"Unless I have a disease in the stomach, then yes."

Sasha nodded. "It will not be easy."

"It's a complication."

The woman merely smiled. "If you see it that way." They stopped in front of the fountain. "Ellise, whatever happens, your child will have to come first."

She read so much in those words and in the woman's eyes. An orphan who spent most of her life with fellow unwanted children. That's what Sasha was. She was not talking about being a mother. She was talking about being a child—an unwanted complication.

"Have you told him?"

"No."

"Do you plan to tell him?"

"In due time. Once I'm very certain."

Sasha nodded. "We have lost many lives in this game, Ellise. I do not want you to lose more."

"Precisely why I have to stay as Darcy. I will not want any of those lives to mean nothing if we don't succeed." Sasha looked at her for a long time, face gentle, knowing. "What?"

"Do you blame yourself for what happened?"

"We planned this together, you and I. I blame us both."

The lady smiled. "Of course."

"And if we fail, it will be our fault."

"Your success is different from mine, Ellise. Mine is seeing Belcourt free from the Vandenbergs and Arielle, from the people who control them. Yours is to place Reginald back on the throne. My husband's is likewise dreaming of a different success and that's to see none of the French soldiers step foot on Sutherland soil."

"Yet all our visions of success bind us all. We have to work together to realize them."

Sasha shrugged. "I can always find other ways to help Belcourt be free. I don't have to put Reginald on the throne."

"I know you are not fond of the man, Sasha. But he is the better king and he will make your mission far easier."

"Perhaps. I do not hate the idea of putting him back on the throne."

"You hate the fact that we are going to do to Louis what he did to Reginald."

"Greed is a cycle, isn't it? You take mine, I take yours. And you take more. And I more."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"About Reginald, I always have second thoughts. About the queen, I have more."

"So do I."

"I always told you, Sasha, that this is not a good plan. We know Esther will attempt to overtake Arielle within Belcourt. Theodora still has Soldiers inside who may support her. The queen, as former High Priestess, has more. Esther will not go out of Belcourt, much more so help us get in."

"Not if we can make Esther do what we need her to do. If she has a reason to be afraid to stay in Belcourt, she will want to get out. And if she wants to get out, she will need to let us in and help her because her mother won't."

"What do we need then?" she asked. "Or who?"

Sasha looked her in the eye. "The very woman she betrayed."

Ellise nodded, the gears inside her head turning. "I'll give Trent his new mission."