On that happy note, Regina woke up and instinctively stuffed a pillow in her mouth before she shrieked in rage.

When she finally had her fill of incoherent anger at the universe, she leapt out of bed and furiously paced around as she tried to understand what she had just experienced.

“I am still being targeted,” Regina said through gritted teeth, “though there is no logical reason I should be! I thought if I married Artem, someone that absolutely no one thinks of as a future king, I would be safe. I am lucky that my family decided that Artem is useful enough to be a stepping stone to greater power… but I am still not the Crown Princess or future queen! So why…”

Regina closed her eyes and remembered how still her other-self looked for the moment that she was able to see her… her corpse .

“So why is someone still trying to kill me ?”

Shuddering for a moment before she forced herself to stop, Regina tried to think of possible reasons.

“I may be a socially inept shut-in,” she said, bluntly facing the truth, “but I have not been in the Capital long enough to personally offend anyone to the point where they would wish to murder me. Romance novels would say that it might be some female rival out to destroy me because I won Artem’s heart but…”

Despite the situation, Regina had to laugh.

“That would just be silly . I wish my enemies were so simple and easy to determine!”

Sobering, she admitted, “So this assassin is not after me for personal reasons… which means that they or their masters wish to eliminate me for political ones. Perhaps…”

Regina’s eyes closed as a new headache began to bloom.

“Perhaps it is less about me than the man I am to marry. After all, even after disengaging myself from Crown Prince Aaron, I engaged myself to his brother Artem. Maybe…

She shuddered as she remembered how she and Artem had almost been captured by his loving ‘cousins’ at her own debutante ball.

“Maybe someone does not want to see either prince get married.”

If that was the case… that meant that in Regina’s first vision of her doomed engagement to Crown Prince Aaron, she may have been framed in order to deprive him of a bride.

This would mean that in her second engagement to Prince Artem, her assassin meant to kill her… and then frame Artem for murdering her in order to now deprive Artem of a bride!

Of course, that was assuming Artem was not the real target of this assassination attempt… though if he was, the assassin had to be very cautious. Royal princes can and did get murdered. – in fact, Aaron and Artem’s two elder brothers had been killed in a messy battle for the throne several years back.

However, the consequences of such a grave crime would be… severe and any party found to be connected to a royal murder would be killed – with their family likely dying as well.

So if someone wanted to take Artem out of the line of succession, it would be much easier to kill Regina and frame Artem for it than to murder Artem himself.

“Yet who would believe Artem would kill me?” Regina wondered. “The man is as sweet and harmless as a puppy! So why would anyone believe Artem could manage to murder anyone in the first place?!”

However, Regina knew that no matter how sweet and well-meaning Artem was, it would be hard to explain how he appeared in her bedroom on the night she suddenly died in her sleep.

That kind of ‘coincidence’ seemed about as purposeful as Regina’s ‘carriage accident’... and the mere implication that Artem was involved in Regina’s death would destroy his future.

If the Alpins did not have Artem quietly killed for being a disgrace, he would probably be exiled to the frozen north. She could not imagine poor Artem lasting long if he had to deal with overgrown monsters, angry native Northerners and – worst of all – Kuzeys !

Yet if Regina’s would-be assassin wished to kill her in order to harm Artem’s reputation, Regina would not allow that to happen .

“After all,” Regina angrily muttered, “Artem is my window into the future and my only hope of survival! I need him to stay alive so I can see what might next happen to me!”

Then, feeling embarrassed by her own selfishness, Regina added, “Besides, Artem has been so kind to me. I may not know him well yet but I cannot think of another man I would rather marry!”

Indeed, though some people clearly pitied Regina for being engaged to a ‘hapless fool’ of a prince, Regina could think of far worse fates.

After all, Artem was as kind as he was pretty and he even seemed genuinely excited to marry her. She witnessed his good nature every night in her dreams… and she did not mind a husband who was prone to a solid frolic so long as he did not also gamble, drink to excess, smoke, or seek intimacy with other ladies.

“Besides,” Regina muttered, “I may… care for Artem already. I can only think well of a man who wants to serenade me, no matter how terrible his lyrics might be. He does not deserve to be harmed through my assassination!”

Indeed, the thought of anyone harming poor, innocent Artem, whose only sin seemed to consist of being a part of the Alpin family, enraged Regina.

Taking a deep breath and slightly concerned by the strength of her anger, Regina refocused herself on the immediate problem.

“Anyway,” she added on a more pragmatic note, “I have to keep Artem alive so we can marry and flee the Capital. There can be no other groom for me. My family would never allow me to descend from an Alpin prince to a lesser noble, unless perhaps it was to a Duke. But the Dukes of Neville and Buren are middle-aged married men and their heirs are engaged to other noblewomen. Duke Kuzey may still be young, handsome, and unmarried, but he…”

Regina had a sudden flashback to that long-white-haired Duke muttering about feet fish and declared, “No. Not even if the Duke of the North begged me to marry him on his hands and knees .”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Besides, Regina wanted to leave her murderous family in order to live a quiet, peaceful life in a countryside manor where the biggest menaces she faced were some angry geese or rampant aromatic cheese.

If she left her family to go frolic in the frozen North with a new husband who enjoyed muttering about monsters while quelling the constant rebellions of the native Northerners who had previously lived there before Carcosa conquered their lands…

…Regina might as well let the assassin do their work and save herself trouble in the end.

“No,” Regina admitted, “for better or worse, I am yoked to Artem, so I have to keep us both safe! I need to stay alive so that Artem cannot be framed for my murder and thus disgraced. But…”

She pressed her hands against her head in frustration.

“How can I save us both when an assassin is lurking and my visions of the future are useless to identify them ?!”

Suddenly, Regina’s eyes widened in realization and she realized just what the night her would-be death and Artem’s disgrace could bring…

…if Regina took her potential death scene as an opportunity rather than a problem.

~♦♥♦~

That night, when Prince Artem made his way to the Sheridan town house to serenade his future bride, he did not have the chance to make his way to Regina’s bedroom.

He did not even have time to break open the locks to the Sheridan gate before Regina wrenched open the already unlocked gate with strength blessed by a frantic desire to stay alive.

Dizzy with relief, she almost hurled herself into his arms…

…before she remembered that she had a large crowd of family and visiting nobles behind her and stepped back demurely.

Instead, she tried to convey her eagerness to see Artem before an assassin killed her by saying, “Prince Artem! Just as you promised, you have come to see me and my family!”

Artem’s beautiful blue eyes widened as he said, “Pardon me?”

“You are pardoned,” Regina briskly said, even as she threaded her arm through his, causing a pretty blush to play across his cheeks, “from having to be too modest ! After all, everyone knows –” (because she had told them) “-that you planned this entire evening of festivities!”

“I did?” Artem said, looking torn between being pleased and confused, even as he stared at the enormous crowd of people suddenly flocking around him. “But I just came here to seren–”

“Serenely pass out your beautiful gifts to everyone here to show how excited you are for the joining of our families,” Regina chirped with a smile she hoped looked merry instead of manic. “So I am doing my part to realize your dreams!”

While Artem continued looking confused, Regina turned to her family and the large ensemble of visiting nobles they had gathered, along with the delegation of grim-faced Alpin retainers meant to ensure the Sheridans were acting in a way worthy of royalty.

“Why should we wait until the day of the engagement party to show off how much you value your newfound in-laws?” Regina said sweetly to Artem and everyone watching. “No, my beloved Artem wishes to declare to everyone that he is proud of our impending marriage… and his alliance with House Sheridan. So he came to our Sheridan town house the night before our engagement to demonstrate his commitment and greet and share his devotion with every witness here!”

This was an absurd lie. Obviously, poor Artem had not planned anything outside of a serenade accompanied by a kiss or embrace.

Yet Regina was perfectly willing to twist the truth. After all, if sweet Artem was willing to create a grand romantic gesture the night before their engagement party, why should she not redirect that gesture in a way that kept them both safe?

Therefore, before he had arrived, she told her parents that her dear, sweet Artem was coming to pay the Sheridans a midnight visit right before the engagement party to showcase just how deeply he cared for his new in-laws.

While her parents had been less than thrilled at first…

(“What the hell is wrong with that damn prince,” was the first thing Regina’s mother said after she spoke to her parents about Artem’s visit… and it did not sound like a question.)

…Regina had gotten them to agree to turn Artem’s visit into a party.

After all, the Sheridans were already hosting a group of his family’s rigid and humorless retainers in their town house that night to make sure all went well for the engagement ceremony the next day.

So what was one more guest?

Deciding that safety lay in numbers, Regina had even persuaded her parents to invite every bloody noble they could find so that those nobles could witness the strength of the new Sheridan-Alpin alliance.

Regina’s winning argument had been, “No matter what people think of my sweet Artem, there are only two princes in all of Carcosa… and I am marrying one of them. So why should we Sheridans not display our grand prize, especially when his actions tonight will show that he will do anything to cement the ties between our two families?”

That had been the perfect piece of persuasion to get her family to agree to host an impromptu midnight pre-engagement soiree… which was why Regina was now dragging poor Artem from one group of nobles to another, greeting and flattering each of the visitors.

After all, Regina grimly decided, the more witnesses she and Artem had around them tonight, the more impossible it would be for an assassin to strike.

That was worth forcing a smile on her face as yet another haughty noble told her just how pleased they were for her and Artem as their political… genius was revealed.

“Lady Regina and Prince Artem,” Lord Red Hair, who had introduced himself as Marquess Gaston la Belle, a man as beautiful as he was insufferable, “you two are a pair that truly… suit each other. I can think of no other couple who would think to throw such an… unconventional party.”

Regina wanted to unconventionally claw his eyes out. Yet before she could respond, Lord Grass Hair – no, Lord Robin Buren – interrupted with a smile.

“Do not be so cruel to tonight’s happy couple,” Lord Robin Buren said, a warm smile on his face. “If Lady Regina and Prince Artem wish to celebrate their coming joy with more than the official celebrations, they should.”

“Indeed,” said Lord Leaf Brooch, who had been introduced as the imposing Duke Neville and was never far from his Buren counterpart. “Their pleasure in being with one another is obvious.”

That was, strangely enough, very true. Regina had to marvel at how Artem (though crestfallen over not being able to serenade Regina in private) had thrown himself into socializing with the giant crowd of nobles.

Regina felt a temporary burst of relief as Artem cheerfully smiled at the nobles assembled before him.

That is, Regina felt relief before Artem said, “I am glad to hear that! Personally, I could never be less than charmed by anything my Regina arranges. Is she not, in every way, perfect?”

Regina gritted her teeth and gently pulled Artem away from another group of nobles before the red on her ears spread to the rest of her face.

Even so, she knew what she had to do to stay alive and she executed her plans with a grim determination.

Thus, for the rest of the night, Regina frantically fluttered from one group of nobles to another with poor Artem by her side.

Yet though she knew that she was ultimately saving her life and Artem’s reputation by making them unavailable for a night assassination, Regina felt sorry for what she was doing to her poor groom-to-be.

After all, though Artem was willing to gallantly greet and gift every noble she introduced to him, it was clear that they thought of him as an idiot flouting the strict etiquette of the royal family to please his equally ridiculous bride.

Granted, Artem had hardly had a sterling reputation even before their engagement. Indeed, Regina knew from her dreams of him that poor, gentle, good-hearted Artem had faced and still did face the scorn and condescension of many.

Yet it still made Regina burn to see how the nobles hid sneers beneath their smiles as they congratulated Artem on “flouting convention to build an ever-lasting alliance with the Sheridans.”

‘ Laugh all you want ,’ Regina seethed behind her own tight smile. ‘ Artem is worth a hundred of you… and once we get married, I will whisk him straight away to the outer edges of this bloody country !’

She turned to see Artem - poor, sweet Artem, who had only wanted to sing her a song – and barely stifled the urge to say,

‘One day, I will run away with you… no matter who wants to destroy us.’

With a smile that was mostly teeth, Regina took Artem’s hand in her own and fought the only battle she could fight for the both of them… until they could both escape this nightmare.