I—choke out a disbelieving laugh.

Alex’s expression shifts from grim and apologetic into… offended.But come on! ‘They launched last night’s attack on Silverwood Keep,’ he says? What a preposterous idea. Where did it even come from?

“Okay, look,” I say. Maybe a little truth would help untangle everything. “I have no idea where this rebels thing is coming from, but I promise you it’s not them. It’s the royals you have to worry about. The King, sort of. But mostly the Qu—“

Alex scoffs.

“Is that what they told you to say, Aurelia? Have they gotten their hooks so deep in you that you can’t see how flawed the scheme is?” Alex says. “Did those rebel bastards think my parents will just accept that?¹Well, at least this plot twists explains why Alex had such a deep-seated hatred of the rebels. I thought it was just because they, you know, hate nobles and think he and his family are evil and shouldn’t exist. Turns out it’s also because they got his girlfriend to agree with them.... But Natter should definitely have mentioned it in the novels though.  That anyone will? My family has been loyal to the royal line for centuries! And on what proof? Your words?”

Oh right. Proof.

“Well, that—“ I stumble.

“Is this your contingency plan when you couldn’t go through with betraying the Keep? Or was this the plan all along?” Alex says, and every single new sentence he’s saying is making my head spin. “Turn the Silverwoods against the Crown? Is this what you meant, when you said you wouldn’t and couldn’t harm me and my family but that you still believed in those rebel bastards?”

Wait.

Okay. Time out.

I put one hand up at Alex, in the universal sign of stop, and think.

So Aurelia really had been… in contact with the rebels? A supporter, even?

It just seems so unlikely! Aurelia’s practically dating nobility. She was raised in the Keep.

But it can’t be a set-up. Both Alex and the Duke know it to be true. Alex presumably heard from Aurelia directly.

Conclusion: Aurelia really must’ve been a… rebel sympathizer.

But doesn’t that actually put me in an even worse spot? I obviously wasn’t actually here for any would-be communication with the rebel, so if Silverwoods actually force me to talk about it, then I’ll be flying blind and toast.

Okay, but you know what. This has actually got nothing to do with the plot, does it? The real plot, I mean. It wasn’t even mentioned in the novels. Really, it’s a factoid, a tangent at best. I just need to course-correct their bad theory, and whatever was up with the Aurelia-rebel thing will no longer be relevant and easily kicked aside.

That helps me too. If this story keeps going sideways AU-style,²Well. More accurately, Alex Prime had overheard two poor scouts sent to ‘clean up’ the battle site talking. He’d then proceeded abduct them, torture the truth out of them, and then murder them. Yeah, as I said, Alex Prime really snapped after the Silverwood Keep massacre.  then my canon knowledge is useless.

I just need to get this story back on track. Sidestep this whole thing.

But to do that, I need the missing the key piece Alex is demanding: proof.

The problem is, I don’t have any proof. Alex Prime didn’t need ‘proof’ that the King and Queen had ordered the massacre. He’d just interrogated two attackers to find out the truth.³ AU = alternate universe, when some change in the world leads to the butterfly effect and a branching story. Nowadays people hear AU and think first about fanfic or like, the multiverse. But personally, my favorite example of it is Star Trek’s Mirror verse because hello, evil people and goatees... Although now that I say that, maybe I should be glad I’m just in the normal Chess Games of Blood world, and not some super special extra evil version of it.

But wait. Can’t Alex get that here too?

“Aurelia?” Alex prompts, when I’d been silent too long.

“Okay, wait, why don’t you just ask the attackers? Surely you must’ve captured a few. If you ask them, the truth will become clear. I promise you, I’m not lying. It really is the King and Queen!”

Alex narrows his eyes. “The few we caught are mercenaries who were stupid enough to take a contract against our family from an anonymous client. They say they were kept in the dark in nearly all things.”

Ugh. That can’t be right. I know some of the attackers were dispatched by the King and Queen directly.

“There has to have been non-mercenaries there. Don’t tell me you couldn’t find anyone from the Royal Shadow?” ⁴ You can probably figure out what the Royal Shadow is from that too on-the-nose name. It’s basically the King’s left hand, a legion of highly-trained assassins that routinely leave the capital to do his wet work. Hunting down enemies, murdering power-hungry and annoying nobles, sussing out undeclared mages and killing them, that sort of thing. To denote their service, they’re all branded on the forearm with the King’s crest. Which seems kind of against the whole secret agents thing, if you think about it? If even one person dies on their mission, then boom, everyone now knows who’s responsible. And at least one of them must die at some point. Honestly, my bet is that Andor K. O. Natter just put in that branded arm detail for the cool factor. Look. I did tell you the book’s world-building isn’t very good.

I remember that bit from the books. It was another thing that had convinced Alex Prime it was the royals.

This Alex says, his voice dripping with ice, “And how do you know that there were Royal Shadow members amongst the attackers?

“I—“

Realize what I’ve done.

Damn it! How am I suppose to keep what I’m supposed to know with what I do know straight? All while not knowing what the hell Aurelia knows?

“You see!” Alex bursts out, seeming out of nowhere. He takes one single step forward to me. I flinch back, and he stops. “I want to believe you, Aurelia. I told Father there must be more to the story, that they must’ve gotten our defensive plans from elsewhere. I told him that there’s no way you would’ve betrayed us if you had a choice.”

“There is more to the story,” I try. “Would I coordinate with them and then betray them at the last minute? How does that make sense?”

He barrels on as if he’s never heard me. “But how can I defend you when you know these things you shouldn’t! How can I defend you when I know even now you’re not telling me the truth!”

“Does it matter?” I say weakly. “If you just ask the Royal Shadow members—“

“Every single member of the Royal Shadow amongst the attackers, to a man, committed suicide to evade capture,” he bites out. “You realize it’s an open secret that there are defectors amongst their ranks? The moment Father saw the mark of the Royal Shadow on those dead bodies, he became convinced the rebels are responsible for this. ”

I… hadn’t known that. I have nothing to say in response.

Alex looks up, at the sky that’s barely edged in pink now. The sunrise is almost over over, giving way to the simple morning.

“Why didn’t you break off communications with them like you promised, Aurelia? ” He says. “Why did you even get involved with them.”

He looks back down. I realize with a jolt that his eyes are red-rimmed.

Alex clenches his fists and turns away. “Forget it. We need to go see my parents. They’ll be wondering why it’s taken so long for me to fetch you.”

“Wait—Alex,” I stumble out.

I want to apologize. Or maybe beg forgiveness. But how do you do either when none of it is your fault?

Oh my God, I’m starting to get light-headed.

Can I just try to outrun him right now? He’s in love with me isn’t he? he clearly doesn’t want to die.

Maybe he’ll pretend not to be able to catch me.

“All I’m asking is you tell them the truth, Aurelia,” he says without looking back. “Luke and I have asked Father and Mother to take into account that without your warning, many more people might’ve died last night. And you stayed in the Keep, instead of running. If you confess, their judgment will be less severe.”

Alex starts walking.

“Let’s go,” he says.“My parents are in the Great Hall.”