I felt as conflicted as I thought I might as my mother prepared to leave the castle. I watched her from the tower window as she called for her horse, then clumsily flung herself onto the back of it to begin the fruitless journey back. Even from so high up, I could make out the agony that rippled across her face as her pelvis settled into the saddle. My mother surely did not have long left alive.

  I felt both mournful and cold about that idea. It had hurt more than I had anticipated to discover that she had no real remorse for what had happened. The idea that she had willingly given a son to a man simply because he asked for it, while knowing what it would do to her own daughter, cut through my heart. She had known what her actions would mean for me and how it would irrevocably change the course of my destiny, yet she valued his desires over mine. I had only hoped that after all these years she had come to realize the full width and breadth of her mistake. Instead, she came with excuses instead of pleading for my forgiveness.

  I had prepared myself to hear a knock on my bedroom door in the night and to hear one final plea from her to spare her life and make amends. I likely would have conceded to helping her if her apologies were sincere and heartfelt, but the morning had come with nothing. I was not heartless, I did not take real pleasure in her suffering or her impending death, but I would not be the one to turn the other cheek. All she had to do was to own up to how horrendously she had destroyed my future and plead for forgiveness. If she was not willing to do that, then her fate was set.

  “It's better this way,” Mari said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “She has had ample time to consider what she has done and has found no fault in herself. Her selfishness has earned her a fitting end.”

  “I suppose so,” I said. I had some small aching doubts in the bottom of my heart and I hated their presence. “If she had only tried to act remorseful I would have considered being forgiving.”

  “She never really cared about you,” Mari countered, “otherwise she would have never done what she had.”

  I nodded in agreement and shrugged my shoulders. “What's done is done.”

  “She will perhaps make it back in time to die among the people she loved more than you,” she said with a smug half smile.

  Mari meant well, but the statement boiled rage inside me. I didn't think she understood the conflict I felt inside. She had led a relatively charmed life getting whatever she wanted with no desires for much more. As far as I could tell she had never felt a stinging betrayal from someone so close to her, if she had, she hid it well. While she was sympathetic to my plight, she could never fully understand and did not understand when it was wise to hold her sharp-tongued wit.

  “Regardless, Rafe demands an audience today,” Mari continued on, oblivious to my simmering anger about her callous words. “I believe he wants to discuss with you how he plans to go about dealing with the twins and their little friends.”

  My mother passed through the castle gates in the distance and once they were closed, I had seen the last of her I likely ever would. My anger was replaced by a sense of emptiness and longing. I would not mourn what had been lost between us or the pain she had caused, but I would regret the relationship we should have had and never would.

  “So soon?” I questioned and turned from the window, wanting to put my feelings about my mother from my mind. “It has only been a few days since he has started planning.”

  Mari let out a short, airy laugh. “He is a bit paranoid sometimes, especially when it comes to the Great Church.”

  I followed Mari into the hallway to begin the walk back to the great hall. Two servants dipped their heads in reverence before us and waited for us to pass.

  “Is it really something for him to fear?” I asked. “It always seemed like something people appeased out of a sense of duty. They were a presence, but not something that felt powerful.”

  “I don't think it's their current political or military strength that scares him,” she answered. “I believe that he worries about what they are capable of in the long term since they are brainwashed to be so passionately against anything they deem to be 'evil.'”

  “Is that what they think we are: evil?” I asked with a short laugh. “I do not think we have done anything particularly evil lately.”

  “Many would still say so,” she grinned. “You quite literally share a bed with a demon.”

  “Half-demon,” I corrected.

  Lips curling into an amused expression she shook her head. “Joking aside, yes, they very much believe us to be evil. There's no convincing them otherwise, nor should we even bother trying. They have a very rigid definition of what it means to be good and nothing we are or concern ourselves with fits the mold.”

  “Oh don't worry, I don't care about being good or evil, I only care about getting what is rightfully mine.”

  “And that, my dear, is what makes you evil to them,'” she chuckled.

  With a shrug I took my rightful place upon the throne and sighed. I did not care for labels, just the idea that people would care if something was evil or good was a tiring premise. Who really had the energy to concern themselves with such things? Surely others were also concerned with their own personal advancement. Perhaps there was something in the realm of “good” that allowed for self-advancement that I simply couldn't see.

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  Unceremoniously, Rafe let himself into the great hall, a look of determination upon his face. Though he had been a bit testy after learning that key information about the twins had been kept from him, there was a glint in his eye that he secretly enjoyed being spurred into action. I suspected that he had been starting to get a bit bored under my grandmother’s reign and was itching for a reason to flex his muscles.

  “Toria,” he greeted, “I have a task for you, if you agree to it.”

  He plopped himself into one of the nearby chairs and motioned for Mari to be seated as well. Rafe did not enjoy having others around him standing if he was seated, it made him feel like they were planning something. With the types of people he tended to associate himself with, the feeling was not necessarily just idle paranoia.

  “Of course, what is it?” I asked, intrigued.

  “To combat that damnable Church, we're going to need magical might beyond just what my demon kin can provide. I've had suspicions for quite a while that they have been working on methods that are meant to be potent against demons,” he explained, spitting out the last part like it created a bitter taste in his mouth.

  “Magic users beyond what we already have?” Mari asked with astonishment. “How would we even go about starting that? It is mostly our pact that gives us the strength that we possess.”

  “Surely you do not think that you are so special that magic cannot work for others,” he scoffed with a wave of his hand. “There is enough power to go around if we can find bodies able to handle the influx.”

  “Of course I am not so naive,” she shot back with a disapproving glare, “but where are we to find so many of these able-bodied specimens? You of course know that our kingdom is rather small and lacking a large pool for talent. We have little more than servants and a small group of serfs. None of them are particularly talented and most are quite dim.”

  I leaned back on my throne and considered the predicament. It seemed like there had to be a simple solution to the problem. Mari was correct that the castle had very little in the way of able bodies when it came to magic. The servants in the castle all seemed to be oblivious to the magical surges that constantly happened around them. Anyone with any sort of spark or talent for magic would have been quite easy to detect.

  “That's for you guys to figure out how to get around,” he said. “You're resourceful ladies, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. We don’t need the best of the best, we just need some magic wielders that are not demonic in origin.”

  “How would you suggest we find people who have talent?” I asked. “I was not even aware of my own talents until I was brought here.”

  “Magic is rare in the human realm, but not so rare that it should be difficult,” Rafe said with a wave of his hand. “Any magic user should be able to open their conduits and detect if anyone else around is able to tap into the magical currents as well.”

  “That part should be fairly simple,” Mari agreed with a nod of her head.

  “So these people with magic potential could be anywhere and anyone?” I raised my eyebrow as a thought came to my mind. It would be a bold plan, but one that might let me get a small fraction of revenge.

  “I suppose you could say that,” Rafe verified.

  “What if we used my father's peasants?” I suggested. “They are the nearest, easiest kingdom to travel to and we could wade through them to find able bodies.”

  “That brings up a whole other set of problems, like your father's reaction to stealing peasants,” Mari warned with a soft chuckle. “I can’t imagine he would have a very happy response to finding out.”

  “I didn't say we'd steal them. Quite the contrary, actually.” A smile blossomed across my features, the plan in my head seemed almost too perfect. “Girls are often, unfortunately, seen as mostly annoyances that require time, effort, and money to marry off once they come of age. What if we offered to take the ones we identify as having talent off their hands?”

  “Just like that?” Mari said with a blink. “Do you think people will just hand over their daughters?”

  “If they think they will be going to a better place or at least they will no longer be their problem, yes,” I assured her. “People are inherently selfish. You’ve seen for yourself that even a princess can be let go of if the correct pressure is applied or a good deal is struck.”

  Rafe let out a deep laugh and leaned forward in his chair. “You realize that this is a deliciously dastardly idea? You are essentially describing building some sort of child army. That idea makes me even give pause and consider if we’re going too far.”

  “It solves the problem,” I insisted. “Besides, as I mentioned before, these talented girls would never come into their power and instead be sold off to marry and waste away as menial peasants. These girls would be saved from dreary, hard lives and instead be given a new purpose. I think Mari would be perfect to be the one to find these girls and bring them back for training.”

  “While I would love to execute something like this, do you expect your father to have no reaction?” Mari interjected. “This kind of thing could be considered something worthy of retaliation.”

  “I do not think he would,” I said, “he would likely not even notice. He never seemed to be very in tune with the servants or the peasants. I'm sure we could have several promising girls before he ever took notice. If he does, I honestly think he will not care much. Us taking the young girls will take no one from the ranks of his army and therefore he has little reason to be upset.”

  “She has a fair point,” Rafe agreed, “A king like him probably wouldn’t care too deeply about young girls being taken from the serfs, they are worth so little to him.”

  Mari breathed in deeply, then let it out as a long sigh. “I'll go and I'll do it, I just think it might be a risk.”

  “Do we have any better ideas?” I waited a moment for either of them to start speaking, but both answered with shrugs.

  “Then I think it's settled.” I turned to Mari who had a wry smile on her face. “Go ahead and prepare to travel to my father's kingdom under the guise of recruiting girls for a place in another faraway kingdom where they will hold a place higher than a peasant. It's not entirely untrue and will be an offer beyond what any of them could hope for.”

  “That's all well and good, but how do you propose I get the girls back? March them like an army?”

  “Well, that is what they will be, so I see no reason not to,” I answered. “It is not so long a walk, but I’m sure you can easily find a peasant willing to part with a wagon along the way if you happen to come upon enough talent to warrant needing one.”

  Rafe's face transformed into a devilish grin and he stood from his seat. “Then I suppose that matter has been resolved for now. You think quickly, Toria, I am glad that you were decided on as heir, we will accomplish much in our time together.”

  “May it be long and fruitful,” I echoed.

  Rafe turned with a dramatic flourish and marched from the room, barking orders at the demonic servants who had come with him to follow him back to his own realm.

  “Well,” Mari began once Rafe had left, “I did not expect to get a mission today. It seems I have a lot to plan and pack.”

  “I hope that you do not mind too much, it rather sounds fun to me,” I said with a half-smile. “A bit of subterfuge always seems to suit you.”

  “Does it now? I suppose it might be fun, especially since I told Evonia long ago that we were not casting our net wide enough to expand our power. I never thought I would do so by essentially coercing people to give up their young girls, but things never turn out exactly the way you imagine.”