Page 23 of Knotted By the Triad

Now that I was living in this book, I was glad those things were here. Thank you, witches and realm travelers. I stared into the mirror. I’d styled my hair into a high ponytail, leaving curls to fall over my back and shoulders and pulling a few tendrils loose around my face.

“Princess, when did you get so good at doing hair?” Allie asked, impressed by this simple style.

Maybe it was because the old Zuri always depended on Allie to style her hair. Most noble ladies depended on their maids for everything, even bathing.

“I’ve been practicing in secret,” I lied.

I styled hair for a living back in the real world. But I couldn’t tell her that. I didn’t have much jewelry, so I was wearing the jewelry my grandmother had given me. Well, the jewelry the original Zuri’s grandmother had given her.

It wasn't the latest design, but I didn't care. She'd saved it for her granddaughter as part of her dowry, and I would wear it proudly and dare a bitch to say something about it. Of course, once I had some of the alphas' coins in my purse, I would buy more fashionable jewelry.

Speaking of purses, or rather, pouches, where were Zuri’s poison pouches? I had a feeling I needed to remind some of these people what clan I was from. Maybe then they’d stop thinking they could disrespect my courtyard.

CHAPTER SIX

ZURI

“Hey, Allie, didn't Zuri have a pouch...” I paused, realizing I'd just referred to myself in the third person. “I mean, didn't I have a collection of pouches that I used whenever we went out to hunt wild boars?”

The memory had come to me out of nowhere. Allie and I had really roamed the forests together, hunting for food and gathering berries. We’d used my sleeping powder to weaken the wild boars, making them easier to kill.

But it didn’t work as well on the larger ones, so we got wounded a few times. My wounds always took longer to heal because I couldn’t shift. Allie was the runt in her family, which was why she’d been sold to my grandmother to be my servant.

Her dragon was present, but she wasn’t the best at shifting or using her fire abilities. Sometimes, the village kids had teased us, calling us the shiftless and the runt. We’d often beat them up, then got scolded by my grandmother.

We'd lived a hard life in the countryside. Nothing had been handed to us, and we'd learned how to survive with what little we had. But that life had also made us stronger. It was one of the reasons Orion Bane and his family here in the capital thought of me as uneducated and uncultured.

Damn, I was once again thinking of myself as the old Zuri. The old Zuri had been uneducated. But this Zuri had multiple degrees and owned her own businesses. Old Zuri’s fighting strength paired with my intellect would make us unstoppable.

“Your poison pouches?” Allie asked. She immediately rushed toward my closet and started searching through it. “I stored them in a place I thought the alphas wouldn't find,” she explained. “I didn't want them to see them and accuse you of anything.”

Smart girl. Allie returned carrying a small chest and placed it on the floor in front of me. I crouched and opened it. A smile spread across my face. This was the collection of poisons Zuri had tinkered with while living in the countryside.

Some of them had even been stolen from Orion Bane's home. Unfortunately, I knew what the original Zuri had eventually done with them. In the book, she'd used this collection in her attempts to seduce the alphas, and she'd even tried to kill Mei Lin.

I wouldn't be doing either of those things. I had no intention of drugging men who didn't want me, and I certainly wasn't stupid enough to attempt to murder their beloved Lin'er. I was trying to get out of this marriage eventually, not get myself executed.

However, that didn't mean the entire collection was useless. Some of the non-lethal powders could definitely benefit me. Allie must have noticed the look on my face because she leaned closer.

“If we poison the alphas, the King will behead our entire clan,” she whispered.

I turned my head and stared at her. Then I smiled and thumped her on the forehead.

“Vicious girl. Who said I was planning to poison the alphas?” I asked. “Trust me, I will not do anything that will lead to our deaths.”

Allie rubbed her forehead as she watched me. I glanced back into the chest, still smiling.

“But I will teach unworthy people a lesson,” I whispered.

Understanding dawned in her eyes. Smiling, she nodded. Allie led me through the manor to Mei Lin’s courtyard. Her courtyard was bigger and nicer than mine, but that was to be expected.

She was their beloved Lin’er, after all. If the difference between our breakfasts was anything to go by, the princes weren't the only people in this manor determined to make sure everyone knew which wife they preferred.

A guard stood at the gate. The moment he saw us approaching, he sneered. His gaze roamed over Allie before settling on me.

“Little maid,” he said, but his eyes were on me. “Just because you went to fetch your princess doesn’t mean my stance will change.”

The way he said princess, paired with the look he was giving us, irritated the hell out of me. I almost regretted not bringing a more ruthless poison with me. I plastered a fake smile on my face and continued toward him.