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twenty mattresses, and the lump of the pea will cause her pain enough to keep her awake all night.” She chuckled and waved the thought away with a bony hand. “It’s an absurd notion, but these royals are so inbred they will believe anything. I’ve made sure every girl who attempted the test has failed, thanks to my sleep-inducing peas! But you’ll remain awake on top of an ordinary pea. The next glorious morning you’ll be declared a true princess and marry Prince Phillip. No army needed. Just one simple pea.”
    “How do you know this is the test?”
    “Because I set the whole thing up. By Godrick the Golden, you’re a dimwit sometimes. I’m married to his father, King Henry. He knows I am a wise woman and, thanks to my interpretation of his former wife’s dying words, he follows my advice.” Cauchemar closed her eyes and sighed with self-satisfaction.
    Taking advantage of her aunt’s closed eyes, Katerina leaned out the window and looked for Peter’s lantern before saying, “King Henry and Prince Phillip of Bellemer? I know them from the Who’s Who of Clarameer Royals book you made me read. But if you’re already married to the king, why do you need me? You have your throne, and we could live there at ease without me marrying some stranger prince.”
    Cauchemar opened her eyes and stared at Katerina in disgust. “My dear, do you know what happens to the second wife of a king when he dies? She gets tossed out of the main gate on her widowed derrière. The child of the first wife takes the throne and has no need of an old woman he has never loved.”
    “But not if her niece is married to the new king?”
    “Well, not if her niece is the new queen and something happens to the new king.”
    “That’s an awful thought. And surely direct blood relations will claim the throne.”
    “No, my dear, you will already be carrying the next king in your womb.” Cauchemar reached over and patted Katerina’s stomach. “The poor widowed mother will be pitied and adored by the peas­ants and get to keep her throne. She will need her beloved Auntie at her side as a guide.”
    “But how could you wish death on the prince?” Katerina asked, inching herself slowly away from her aunt’s hand. “That is heartless, and you have no guarantee he won’t live a long and happy life. Unless…” Katerina frowned.
    “Yes, it is morbid but necessary. The day after your wedding there is to be a great hunt where your new husband must kill a stag and bring it home to share with his new bride at a feast. Your future husband has no skill with a bow, but he will draw his arrow and aim for the stag.” Cauchemar raised her arms as if pulling back the string of a bow, and aimed at a candle sitting on a bookshelf across the room. She released her imaginary arrow and Katerina jumped as the candle suddenly toppled over and was extinguished. “ His shot will mysteriously go astray and land right in the chest of his dear old daddy. As he stands there in shock, the stag will defend himself from attack with a well-placed antler right to the young prince’s chest.”
    Katerina gasped as she covered her eyes. “That is terrible.”
    “As I said, morbid but necessary. But you will then be the queen of the kingdom and mother of the heir. There is a reason this must take place after your wedding night. It’s easy as can be. See, no army needed. Just a pea, two beds and an aunt with a plan.”
    “No,” Katerina screamed. She bolted from the window sill and ran toward her bed. “I will not help you kill two men just so you can claim a throne.”
    “Why, you ungrateful little twit,” Cauchemar shrieked, as she rose from the window in a rush with smoke and fire dancing around her shoulders. “I could have left you for dead, screaming into the night on your dying mother’s breast. And this is the thanks I receive?”
    “No, Auntie!” Katerina cried, as she dropped beside her bed and cowered. “Please. I cannot allow you to kill a