Step One: Marry the Prince.

Step Two: Murder the King and Queen.

I wasn’t at all prepared for Step Three.

When I was first asked to infiltrate the palace via marriage to Prince Leone, I was VERY apprehensive. I could not imagine anything worse than marrying someone I did not love, let alone someone I barely knew. Someone who hated my kind, my people. _Me_. But for the greater good, I knew I had to fall on the sword. My happiness was a small sacrifice if it saved thousands of lives.

I was ordered to await further instruction following the wedding - whatever plan the higher ups had concocted was top secret, even from me, the girl enacting it. And so I plastered on a smile and appeared ever the doting bride, fawning over my dresses and pretty things while I slept with one eye open.

The next set of orders arrived several months into my new life as Princess. I awoke to find a slip of paper tucked neatly in my palm. Unfolding it gingerly, I gasped. _Murder the King and Queen. _I was no stranger to violence or killing, but I had begun to grow fond of the King’s warm laugh and the Queen’s sharp tongue. Every time I’d taken a life before it had been a stranger; murdering someone I knew gave me pause. Nonetheless, I acquiesed. A few drops of belladonna and the job was done. I stayed by Leone’s side and stroked his hair as he grieved, and tried my best to ignore the giant pit in my stomach. _It’s for the greater good. _

__

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Step Three arrived while I was in the bath. I’d left the window open to the frigid night air. I shrieked as a giant owl flung itself through the window, nearly taking me out as it dropped a note straight into my bath water. As quick as it came it was gone, and I scrambled to grab the note before it disintegrated. Swallowing down my rising dread, I opened it.

Step Three: Kill the Prince