Page 101 of The Faceless Queen

I clutched my stomach, then immediately forced my hand away, using all the strength I had left to stand straight, to remember that Olivay would never look less than perfect at her engagement ball. That she shouldn’t even be talking to Geoffrey. But I had to know, and the nausea kept roiling through me.

“You never cared about me at all, did you?” I asked. I knew Geoffrey was an asshole. But I’d somehow never seen the true depths of it. I’d been blinded by his so-called protection all these years. Pretending things were okay simply because he’d offered me a home when my own aunt had denied me one. I would have looked past almost anything to feel safe and accepted at that time. And I fucking did.

“Oh, Shamhira.” He clicked his tongue. “Don’t get sentimental on me now. Did you care for me?”

“I never betrayed you!”

“And I have yet to betray you. Look around! You look quite well—a princess betrothed to the crown. You’re free, not in prison, nor in a box. I am simply doing what we all must, what you yourself are doing to poor Olivay and her kind and noble prince at this very moment. Surviving.”

The backs of my eyes burned. “You bastard,” I whispered, my voice breaking.

“If it’s any consolation,” he said, “it’s not exactly your current face being described to the soldiers who hunt you.”

I pressed my lips together. Of course it fucking wasn’t.

“Here, as a favor to an old friend, I’ll give you the upper hand on this. Jaron handed one of these to me.” He produced a piece of folded parchment. It looked exactly like the one Brennan had shown the soldier last night. The one with art he’d drawn of me.

“I already know.” I shook my head, not wanting to unfold it, not wanting to face the truth. To see my likeness again, the likeness I’d left behind. Folding the parchment again, I shoved it into a pocket in my skirts.

“Calm down. He doesn’t know who you are yet. I told him I saw you, but I also told him that you shifted forms again when you saw me and ran away. You could be anyone by now.” He chuckled. “Anyone at all.”

“Even Princess Olivay.”

He made a frowny face, tossing his head side to side as if this were some minor misstep. “I said anyone. Anyone who can dance, who can flirt, who can turn the head of every man in the room toward her without even trying.” He gestured to the dance floor, twisting his hand with a flourish. “Anyone who can walk with their hips swishing seductively.” He eyed my waist.

“And if I turn on you now,” I said, my pulse pounding, “you’ll confirm to him it’s me.”

He grinned. “Exactly. So, I’ll be requiring your silence while I’m here. And payment for mine.”

“I don’t have any⁠—”

“You have access to the crown’s funds. To the funds from two crowns, as I see it: Eskalon and Spartva.”

“You think I have keys to their treasury? I’m just a princess, not on the royal council. I do not have⁠—”

“But you can, you can get them, or,” his eyes flashed with mischief, “one of your faces can.”

I shook my head. “I don’t have the energy or the reserves⁠—”

“And at the very least, you have access to jewels, to clothes. Items worth a pretty coin on the street.”

“You want me to steal for you. Gods, you’re so fucking petty. Why don’t you do it yourself?” I asked. “You’re like me. You could do it. Why do you even take on this form? This oily, greasy excuse for a man.”

He chuckled again, and licked his lips, his tongue sliding against the bottom of his black mustache. “I happen to like this form. I’m happy this way. And why I need you to do it isn’t your concern at all. Focus on what I’m asking you to do, not why. Besides, how hard can this be for you? Did you not give two bracelets already to Cecelia for her brand new life?”

“I did that to help her-to—you spoke to her?”

“Yes, on her way out. She wanted to tell me goodbye.”

I bit my lip. At least there was that. But the problem of Geoffrey wasn’t going to go away so easily. “If I do this for you, if I get you jewels and coin, then you will tell Jaron I’m not here,” I said. “That I’m not anyone at the castle. That I’ve left the country—the continent.”

He sucked more through his teeth and shook his head. “My dear, that’s not how blackmail works. You see, I set the rules, not you. And if I tell him that, then the boxings in the city, in the towns, and in all of Eskalon will only ramp up. Perhaps even spread to Spartva, where they now have an alliance. Even more women will suffer. You should be grateful he suspects that you’re on the castle grounds. When you think about it that way, you’re saving lives.”

“Tell him it’s not me,” I said. “You must do that much.”

“I might be able to do that for you. After all, it’s rather hard to arrest a princess on mere suspicion. And he’s putting so much effort into finding a form that doesn’t exist. But I’m feeling rather put out by my generosity. I think I require⁠—”

I’d already slipped off another bracelet, gold with emeralds embedded in the metal to match both my dress and diadem.