AMBUSH

Invitations began to pour in. Now that Sophia was the second prince's fiancée, everyone was scrambling over each other to attach themselves to Sophia, hoping to boost their own reputations or simply just to make useful future connections.

Selene hated it, but Sophia agreed to almost every single invitation, saying that it would be good to establish a reputation.

So there they were, again, at another fancy person's fancy ball. Sophia was there with Julius, and Cassius and Anastasia where there too.

Selene was forced to attend, as usual, and was bored, also as usual, so she walked up to Cassius and Anastasia, intent on having fun with them.

"Hello, lovebirds." Selene greeted them.

Anastasia smiled a little hesitantly at her, while Cassius looked downright murderous.

Selene smiled blindingly, and secretly used her sorcery to place a minor curse on Cassius. If he got angry within the next two minutes he would find himself suddenly urgently needing the bathroom.

"H-Hello, Lady Ellsworth." Anastasia replied meekly.

"No need to be so formal, Ana. Is it alright if I call you Ana?"

She knew that was a nickname Cassius used for Anastasia, and as expected he clenched his jaw in fury as she casually used his precious nickname. Then his face turned white and he shot up, clumsily dropping an excuse about needing a minute before breaking out into a sprint for the bathroom.

Anastasia looked after him in confusion as Selene cackled in delight.

"Now that we're alone, I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about, Ana."

Anastasia looked wary. Good. She had reason to be.

"Um... okay. What did you want to talk about?"

Selene had a dazzling smile on her face, but there was an edge to it that made Anastasia tense in anticipation. "Your dear boyfriend, of course. Dear, darling Cassie was mine once, you know that, don't you?"

There were people nearby watching them, fascinated, as if sensing that something was happening. Selene was smiling brilliantly, but Anastasia was going pale and seemed frightened.

"I... Um..."

"I let him go because I got bored of him, but now that he's found you, well... suddenly I find myself interested again. Once my sister gets married to Julius, and you get married to Cass, we'll be living together in the palace, did you know? When that time comes, you'd better watch your back."

Anastasia shivered. Selene continued smiling, as if she hadn't just blatantly threatened Anastasia, and then stood up and left, walking towards Sophia.

Sophia raised a brow at Selene. "What was that?"

Selene chuckled. "Just being the villainess I was destined to be."

"You're having fun with this, huh?"

"Yes! These get togethers get so boring. I'd lose my mind if I didn't bother them. And they're so easy to tease, just look at Ana! She looks like a ghost."

"I hate that you're having fun right now." Sophia grumbled.

"What? Are you not having fun with the second prince?"

Sophia gagged. "Yuck. No. Pretending to like him is so annoying. The faster I can kill him the better."

"What's the plan for that anyway?"

"If you're going to ask every time you should just listen when I explain it to you the first time!"

Selene smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"... After we get married, and I become the princess, we're going to get rid of Cassius and Anastasia first. Then Julius will be the first in line for the throne, and that's when the king and queen will contract a mysterious illness and pass away. Julius will become king, I'll become queen, and then I'll get rid of him, of course."

Selene sighed. "This is going to take a while, isn't it?"

Sophia sighed as well. "Yes. Unfortunately. If we kill them all too closely to each other it'll be suspicious."

"World domination better be worth it." Selene grumbled.

When Cassius returned, he took one look at how pale and shaken Anastasia seemed and glared at Selene. Selene waved happily at him, and the moment her rage returned, he was running off to the bathroom again. Selene couldn't help but snigger. The curse would be lasting for the rest of the day.

The ball finally ended, and Selene mumbled angrily as she trod back to their carriage. Sophia was about to step in behind her but suddenly the carriage took off, the door slamming shut with the sudden movement. Selene cursed as she was jerked around in the carriage, getting angrier the more it went on.

She took a deep breath, and when she was calm enough, extended her sorcery out to stop the horses.

The carriage finally stopped shaking and burst out the door, where she caught the coachman running away and into the woods. She took off after him, casting her heels away to run after him properly.

She caught him before long, in a clearing, bent over himself and panting.

"You shouldn't have come after me, Miss. I'll kill you." He warned her.

Selene threw her head back and laughed. It echoed amongst the trees around them. The sound was chilling.

He lunged to attack her, but he had no weapon, just his fists, and it was all too easy for Selene to simply swipe his legs to get him on his back. She knelt down, with her knee pressing against his windpipe.

"Tell me who set you up to this." She demanded.

He gasped for air, scratching at her leg uselessly. "N-No!"

At that moment, Selene noticed movement from a bush beside her. She turned and narrowed her eyes, seeing that there was a snake there, poised for an attack. She grinned, and realised what she could do next.

Her sorcery reached out for the snake, and upon touching it, made its scales shine and made it grow a few feet longer. She beckoned it over, knowing that the sorcery tied them together now.

The man watched with wide eyes as the snake slithered up next to Selene, but did not bite her, and instead seemed to be listening to her.

"Should I tell it to bite you?" She asked.

He looked at the snake, into its dark beady eyes, and started sweating. "D-Don't! Please! I'll talk!"

Selene eased her pressure on his throat.

"I was hired by a man named T-Tyberius. I've never seen his face, h-he always wore a mask when we met. He paid me to get you alone to a secluded house."

"Then what?"

"H-he didn't tell me what would happen next. I was just supposed to get you to the house! That was it!"

"Alright then. Take me there."

He looked at her if she was crazy, but could do nothing but obey her orders. When they returned to the carriage, she sat in front, next to the coachman, to keep an eye on him as he lead them away.

She was sure that Elliot and Sophia, and probably James too, would be onto the trail by now, and would catch up to them soon.