The Princess Who Tamed Demons Read Online Free PDF Page B

those devastating strokes
along my forehead and hair again before he waded into the fray of
whatever terrible truths needed telling.
    "Vizier al-Sham was in league with the Red
Queen, Lady Agwen."
    My blood chilled at the name of my
longstanding nemesis. Queen Agwen was the mother of the Red Knight,
a brutal and abusive man who I had killed on my first wedding night
while defending myself. It had gotten me banished from my homeland
because no witness would stand up for me, and Agwen had not only
never forgiven me…she'd sought my death ever since. What made my
history even more bizarrely tragic was that on my wedding night
with Drake his two brothers had nearly killed us in an attempt to
usurp power. Then too, Agwen had had a hand in things, promising to
prop up the brothers' upstart rule. She was like the ultimate
unlucky coin that kept turning up.
    I let out a nearly hysterical giggle. "Wow, it
wasn't so long ago that your younger brothers tried to kill us on
our wedding night, and now this. Conspiracies and assassination
attempts seem to follow me wherever I go, don't they?" I couldn't
keep the bitterness out of my voice.
    Drake's grim mouth softened, and he leaned
down to press his lips gently to mine. My mouth opened, inviting
him in, but he drew back before it could deepen, and I saw a
haunted look creep across his face.
    "The Vizier conspired with Agwen? But I
thought the Great Amir favored cooperation between our Kingdoms.
Why would the grand councilor go against his own monarch?" I
couldn't keep the lost-sounding tone from my words.
    "The Vizier admitted that he believed you were
too powerful. Word has spread of some of your deeds, Najika. You
are not like the Queens wedded to the other Knights, who have
limited power and never leave their own Kingdoms. The Vizier saw
you as my full-fledged partner—which is very true—and he worried
about the example it would set for Lady Caerra and the status quo.
He viewed powerful women as a threat."
    "And Queen Agwen?" I said, my eyes burning as
I held back tears. "Why she wants me dead is obvious enough, but
how did she and the Vizier arrange to…?" What were the words I was
looking for…become 'bedfellows'?
    "Queen Agwen won't talk, but we have a clear
picture after we interrogated the Vizier. They were allies of
convenience who needed to cooperate for a chance to succeed. The
Vizier knew how to smuggle the poison into the household, but he
lacked the finances to purchase and transport it without attracting
notice. Agwen apparently came to Tajma to personally oversee the
delivery of the shape-changing herb, which grows only in tiny
pockets of mountainous terrain in the far west.
    "The Purple Kingdom to be exact," I said, a
sliver of my tutor's botany lectures emerging unbidden in my
brain.
    "Yes. The Vizier knew where the wine was
brought into the household and stored, and had personal access to
the drinks and foodstuffs of the palace household. Vizier al-Sham
knew exactly which wine to taint with the herb and ensured that the
tainted wine would be brought to you and Caerra at just the right
moment."
    That made sense to me. The Gold Kingdom was
known for its exotic plants, many of which could be used to make
all kinds of poisons. It didn't surprise me that they would adopt
poisons from elsewhere in order to kill in their time-honored
fashion. A ruler here had to be very careful or the wrong dish
would be his last. Even the Gold Knight's more trusted councilors
didn't operate without oversight, so I understood why the Vizier
had needed a conniving outsider's help. A shiver tore through me as
I imagined just how agreeable Lady Agwen must have been to the
idea. Our plan to visit the Gold Kingdom on this diplomatic mission
had been no secret. Things of that magnitude seldom were, no matter
how many precautions one took.
    "Then…wait, are you saying that Caerra drank
the shape-changing poison too?"
    Drake nodded. "Yes. She was found with her
limbs bound in a closet, in the