ha

's an i

. "How do you know and why wait so long to tell me?" He aske

the shoes, the person wasn't wearing the palace san

ey just forg

ese things. Plus," She paused. "They were Pelagios made

u think the

be telling you. I'd be o

it's a

ing that a person just imitated. Besides, if they were just a thief, they wouldn't need to come to this hall where

ation atte

for years and then I come in, throwing the whole plan off." She bit her lip, a nervous habit she had yet to get rid of. She already prepared

an?" Aulus said, g

o stand down a

t her like she had gone mad. Wh

rt the guards, I have my personal ones who will be discreet. I told

o if we can't alert the rest of

ild of a man but you could never be too sure. He walk

hing to do with this?" He aske

ab the intruder as soon as I noticed. I'll find him and find out what they want, if he wanted to kill me or the rest of the family, he could have ea

nders

o track me with the crystal, ju

ng to do that anyway, e

squeezed his h

she walked out of the hall to find the impo

**

well if he was actually targeting her. She wondered if he was a magic user to be able to maneuver the palace security system, brute force alone was not enoug

tand their positions in the palace, but she wasn't a fool. She would gain nothing from this, other than getting

n her heavy robes over her equally heav

hought, no use logging extra weight around when s

red folding it and placing it on the floor but thought about the reaction she would get if her maidservants saw that. Amaryllis migh

ed if the spell on it also included resizing, like her personal armour that she stole from her broth

just at her elbow, looking back to see a masked man, defin

odging and walking backwards until her back hit a door of a room, just like she wanted. She swiftly entered the room, which held some o

od and teenage years with Aulus, the palace guards and at some point, even Lucius. This person wa

harsh attempt at landing a hit on her shoulder. So far, this person seemed to be playing around, not using his full strength. It angered her but

tly the other person didn't expect it cus she saw his eyes widen, the only visible part of his face, before trying to

grinned, happily using the side of her sword to hit him in the shin. He barely flinched, she noted, either very good at feigning nonchalanc

vely fighting for her life. She watched as he moved expertly with his good hand, apparently unfazed by his d

are

len

sent

nce a

are yo

ssed it aga

d, increasing the frequency of her attacks. She was slowly getting used to his fightin

ddess that her sister wasn't actually so stupid to do this. Not because she cared if she was exiled, but she definitely didn't need public scrutiny on her ascension. It was bad enough that news about her family's objection to her position had been spread to other noble families, she didn't need her first act as Queen to be

throne for doing whatever she could to avoid getting killed by an assassin.

od p

put the sword down so we can chat?" She narrowly

happen, what if you de

would never do that?" She grinned, dancing arou

no longer within her range, swinging his sword in a very characteri

I didn't realise

d hitting the wall behind her instead her

his other arm. She threw another set at his legs, making him fall down with a yelp. Once she was sure he was

do you think

athetic and bullied, was

Leonidas