The soldiers tossed me ungently into my tent, and took position outside the door, joining the other two guards.

  My ladies in waiting stood up upon me stumbling in. “Princess Cayce! Is it true? Did you really join the army?”

  “We lost. Badly. I think on purpose.”

  “My lady, you are injured!”

  I looked at my hands, my golden armor, red and shiny with blood. “No, this isn’t mine.” A part of me wished the girls weren’t here or that they’d shut up. I needed to think. It really looked like I was betrayed – or, more accurately, my brother was. That meant the whole family was.

  This was a problem. For me, I mean. I didn’t care about my family, had never met them. NPCs in a backstory and all that. And it was awful that the prince had died. Yet I could see his failings now. Charming to a fault, massive, strong, an excellent warrior, but not the brightest lightbulb in the drawer. He was probably clueless about the turn of events that led to his death.

  Elmorgan was tugging at my gauntlets. I pulled my hand back, “Just stop! Leave me alone. Go.”

  “My lady, we cannot. We have to clean you up, get you ready for the inspection.”

  “Excuse me, what now?”

  “The dowager-regent has organized an . . .” the girl’s lips quivered nervously, “an . . . “

  “Oh, an inquisitor.” Said Sapphire. “A nasty, old and lecherous priest here to check your virginity. The old hag thinks you’ve been corrupted by rape.”

  “Oh, yes. Right, that. I’d forgotten. Fucking hell, how does a victim become corrupted by a goddamn crime against them?” I asked, apparently rhetorically, because every girl but Saph covered their mouth with their hands in horror at my language.

  “They have enormous power.”

  “I see. The old hag’s way of correcting me.”

  “Yes.” Sapphire took my hands in hers, only mine were still armored, and looked me in the eye, “You’ll get through this. Be strong. You’ll be wed soon, and the dowager will no longer have power over you.”

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  “Oh, you sweet summer child.” I shook my head. “Out. All of you. Out.”

  Giselle, one of the blonds, spoke up, “But we are to prepare you. Give you a bath, clean your skin. The bloo-”

  “I said out. Leave me be!” The other girls protested, but Sapphire led them away, a worried look on her face.

  I sort of stood there for a time, stunned. Everything had spiraled out of control so quickly. And was rapidly going to get worse. If this was a game, and I got out, I was going to first beat the crap out of whoever put me in it. If it was me, wow, cheap alcohol drinking binge and hangovers to punish myself! Next, beat the crap out of the game developers. And probably end up in jail for it.

  If this was real, I was in a bind.

  I tried to stop my hands from shaking. It took some resolve. Let’s see. It appeared the old hag was in control of things, the duke in her pocket. He’d orchestrated our loss, the prince’s death. Therefore, it was likely this entire war was planned by the dowager. If not the two of them. Since I was new here, I couldn’t fathom the reason. Power, wealth, land, those are usually good enough reasons.

  I found myself standing by my bed. Wasn’t paying attention. Maybe I wanted to crawl in and hide under the blankets. Have to make sure my feet are protected or the priest under the bed would get them!

  Yet, I was alive. That likely meant they had a use for me. With the dowager bringing a church pervert to sexually abuse me, that likely meant they wanted a broken, cooperative child. In other words, I was the sole remaining figurehead they needed to rubberstamp their power grab.

  Sliding out the dirk from its sheath, I put it on the bed, under the blanket. I did this in a daze. They probably wanted me unarmed and that dirk could be useful. Pull the sword out, stare at it a bit, swing it a bit, re-sheathe it. I hope he doesn’t want to fight.

  The grand magister was a conundrum. Where did he stand? I couldn’t figure it out. He wasn’t trustworthy. His motives were obscure, and he didn’t seem inclined to help. But he did just protect the army’s retreat. That couldn’t have been part of the dowager and duke’s plan. He was probably acting alone, yet I couldn’t fathom to what end. Another unknown for me. Too many of these! I haven’t been here long enough to work out what was going on.

  Pacing, it came to me that I’d likely lost my bodyguards. No doubt the dowager would arrange for them to be decimated along with the others. That hurt a bit. I found myself liking the big guy and even the quiet, little guy. Almost like these were my first friends. Sapphire, too, I suppose, that sex crazed minx. If the dowager figures out where Saph’s loyalties lie, she wouldn’t be around much longer, either.

  I had one thing going for me. The army. They raised their pikes in formation against the duke and nearly on my command. They stopped when the dowager appeared. What would it take to ignite that fire, but on my say only? I had to get them to see her as a bad actor. Somehow. Or get them to see me as acting in their interests. Yet how was I to do that as a prisoner?

  I paced and paced and for some reason images of the battlefield appeared before my eyes. The stabbing, screaming and dust. The odd mechanics of a world filled with magic instead of siege engines and force multipliers. Our line collapsing, our troops being crushed.

  Voices outside the tent, shrill and confident, boots stomping in salute. The time had come.