How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

Author:Alyssa Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2020-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Shanti found that she couldn’t pretend to be interested in the scanning of dusty documents while working at the archives. She was fidgety and annoyed.

Her time was running out, she had a presentation to plan and a kingdom to save, and maybe—just maybe, if what had passed between her and Sanyu meant anything—a marriage to save as well, and she was wasting it sorting through literal garbage. The fact that Njaza had a long and rich history that she could have been immersing herself in but was instead given only the least important things to look through seemed like cruel irony. She was happy to have found the file on the queens, but most of the papers seemed less like archival material and more like a prank.

She huffed and grabbed a stack of papers from the ones Josiane had all but dumped in her lap with a glare, and snatched a paper that looked like the front page of a dissertation. She didn’t read the words until they appeared on the screen of the scanner:

On the ancient deities of Njaza: Omakuumi of War, Amageez of Wisdom, and Okwagalena of Peace.

A bolt of curiosity—and surety—went through Shanti. She’d never heard anyone speak of this Okwagalena, never seen mention of the name in all the materials she’d sorted.

She searched for the rest of the dissertation, but everything else was unrelated.

“Psst!”

She noticed a motion in her peripheral vision and looked up to find a woman with brown skin and hazel eyes peeking at her from behind a nearby bookcase.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

The woman flipped a business card her way and it somehow landed faceup on the seat beside Shanti.

BEZNARIA CHETCHEVALIERE

JUNIOR INVESTIGATOR

WORLD FEDERATION OF MONARCHISTS

“Turn it over,” the woman named Beznaria said, then grinned, revealing a gap in between her two front teeth.

Shanti turned the card over and written in flourishing penmanship on the back were a phone number and what appeared to be another title: Commendatore, Damsel in Distress Rescue Services, LTD.

“You . . . rescue damsels?” Shanti asked.

“That’s my side hustle. I’m here on RoyalMatch.com duty to check in on the status of your arranged marriage, but I think both skill sets can be useful depending on how this plays out,” Beznaria said quietly in an accent Shanti couldn’t place. “I snuck away from your husband to make sure he wasn’t able to influence your answers. Are you okay? Is your health and well-being looked after? Do you feel safe?”

Shanti’s face went taut and her eyes began to sting. She didn’t think anyone in Njaza had directly asked her that since she’d arrived. Both Lumu and Kenyatta were clearly concerned, and Sanyu had asked her what she thought of her time there, but no one had asked with this kind of intentionality—with the expectation of an honest answer.

Shanti found herself momentarily overwhelmed.

“Yes, I’m okay. Thank you.”

The woman squinted at her. “I have to admit, I don’t believe you, so I’m going to have to ask again. Are you okay? Blink twice for help if you think we’re being recorded.

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