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    “Finally gracing us with your presence?” Owen Davis’s voice boomed from the staircase, his silver beard trembling with disapproval. The man clung to his war medals like a child clutching security blankets. “Or did you come to remind me how noble it is to abandon your lineage to play mercenary?”


    “Ah yes, Princess Harper—may her ghost haunt your gout-ridden knees.” Ethan’s grin was all teeth. He gestured to the portrait above the fireplace: a woman with storm-gray eyes and a smile sharp enough to carve empires. “Tell me, Father, does her sorrowful demise still taste like Aunt Audrey’s peach brandy?”


    thin you’ve grown. War disagrees with you, doesn’t it?” She pressed a lace handkerchief to her dry eyes.


    “Unlike adultery, which clearly agreed with you.” Ethan plucked a dagger from his belt and began cleaning his nails. “How’s the view from Mother’s old chambers? See her ghost stitching your funeral shroud yet?”


    ENOUGH! You’ll show respect—”


    wept at Mother’s deathbed while slipping poison into her tea? Oh wait—that part never made the official ballads, did it?”


    Later, in the dusty archives, Ethan rifled through ledgers, muttering, “Smith family’s sudden interest in saving Garcias reeks of horse dung.”The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Ethan didn’t glance up. “Your marriage contract. Thought I’d check if blackmail was listed under dowry.”


    not what she seems.”


    “Says the woman who faked three pregnancies.”


    who’s seen her letters with Prince James Brown.” Audrey dropped a folded note beside him—the royal seal glaring like a fresh bruise. “Why warn the Garcias unless the Smiths plan to replace us as the throne’s favorite attack dogs?”


    Owen found Ethan on the balcony later, both men avoiding eye contact while the moon played referee.


    ‘Dance with lightning.’”


    Audrey in closets.”


    “I was a fool,” Owen snapped. “But I didn’t kill her.”


    they don’t pretend to love the hands they stab.”


    Owen’s knuckles whitened around the goblet. “The Garcias were Harper’s dearest allies. If they’ve turned…”


    her?”


    Ethan’s pause spoke volumes.


    hate for her to end up like dear Harper… all alone, choking on betrayal.”


    actually leaves traces after twenty years.”