[2023 Wattys Shortlist, 2023 Amby Awards winner, Featured 3 times in Wattpad Picks lists]
Kaleth has worked as an agent of Luxarx for years. What the average person might see as an exciting, dangerous job has become the routine, and the only thing...
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Nira had imagined this moment many times, and none of her hypothetical scenarios ever ended well. The best she could imagine was that Nef would calmly accept it and then break up with her. So far, it seemed it was going that way, although Nef hadn't gotten to the second part yet. He had just said okay several times, mostly to himself, while staring out the window.
"But the King and Queen don't have kids, right?" Nef asked, finally turning to Nira again. He looked like he didn't understand the world he lived in anymore and was trying to find something to hold on to. It was disturbing to see him that way. Nef was a bit of a know-it-all, and even if he encountered something he didn't understand at all, he pretended he knew everything about it.
"They do, in fact, have a daughter," said Kaleth, and Nira flinched. She had completely forgotten that he was there and could hear them. She didn't mind that he was explaining this instead of her, though. "To avoid the possibility of assassination, the Queen decided not to tell the public."
"But back in Irithara, you knew who I really was. How?" At least now Nira could ask these questions in front of Nef.
"You knew him before today?" Nef asked incredulously, and she nodded.
"I met him five years ago. I didn't know who he was. I still don't know who he is, but apparently, he helped me get here." Nira looked at Nef apologetically, but he refused to meet her gaze, so instead, she focused back on the laptop screen. The landscape there had changed into a forest.
"Well, I suppose you deserve to know," said Kaleth, sighing. "You see, I wasn't ordered to help you move to Enoria. I was ordered to get rid of you."
Nira could swear her heart stopped for a second. Next to her, Nira could see Nef clench his fists and glare at the laptop. Despite not liking seeing Nef angry, Nira felt a bit more hopeful now. It took a certain level of caring to even get angry over a thing like this in the first place. She cautiously put her hand over his, and to her relief, Nef wrapped his fingers around it.
"Who gave you the order?" Nef said coldly. Nira wasn't used to seeing him react like this.
"The Director of Luxarx. I'm not sure who she received the assignment from, she never told me. It also didn't specify what I was actually supposed to do."
"Didn't you just say that no one knows who Nira is so no one would try and kill her?" Nef asked, still sounding angry but not as much as before.
"What the Queen isn't aware of is that Enoria has a spy or two inside the Iritharian government," Kaleth said, and Nira's eyes widened. How had they not been exposed yet? Her mother trusted no one but herself, after all—not even the king—and was suspicious of everyone. "The monarchy is failing and removing the princess from the picture would fracture it further. At least that was the plan—as you can see, it didn't quite work out."
"There's nothing wrong with the monarchy," Nira objected, ignoring Nef's laugh.
"If your people didn't fear your mother's army so much, there would have been a revolution already," Kaleth told her, and Nira shook her head in denial. That wasn't possible—she had lived in Irithara most of her life. She would have noticed if the people were unhappy, right? She had to admit that she could have paid more attention to the political situation, but she would have noticed if there had been something big going on.
