Twice Upon A Time (Unfinished Fairy Tales #2)(88)
“My goodness.” The queen puts a hand to her mouth. The king rubs his eyes, looks at us, then rubs his eyes again.
We do look similar, Katriona and I. When we were in the carriage on our way to the palace, I had taken a good look at her. Her face isn’t as round as mine, and she has more freckles over her face, but it’s no problem passing us off as twins.
And then an alarming realization enters my mind—she looks more like me when I was seventeen. The reality of the situation starts to sink in. I have not entered Katriona’s body like I did last time. I am here in my twenty-four-year-old self, while she . . . where was she when I was sent to Athelia this second time?
It was a huge mistake, Krev’s voice echoes in my head. He must be referring to Katriona Bradshaw. No wonder the goblin didn’t seem to mind when I was in Athelia for the first time, because I was in Katriona’s body. But now, looking at my doppelg?nger standing quietly behind Bianca, hands folded and eyes downcast, it registers in my mind that this is indeed a huge, thorny issue.
It’s impossible that I can prove that I am Katriona Bradshaw. But if I’m not Katriona, what is to become of me? Even if I tell them the truth, the king and queen won’t believe me. They’ll think I’m crazy. My palms grow moist as my anxiety heightens. I hunch my back and hold my elbows tightly, trying to make myself seem inconspicuous. How am I going to get out of this situation unscathed?
“We need to move to a private room,” the king says finally. “This is a problem that deserves our full attention.”
We are led through a corridor until we reach the king’s receiving chamber. On our way, servants halt and stare at us in disbelief. Oh no. Now everyone knows or is going to know that I am not Katriona Bradshaw. I’m a fraud.
When we enter the receiving chamber, footsteps pound outside, and Edward appears. His hair is mussed up, his chest heaving, and when he sees me and Katriona, he looks as though someone has struck him on the head.
“Kat,” he starts. “Why are you . . . what happened?”
“That,” the king says, “is what we need to find out now.”
I head to the throne—four seats are set for us, but Bianca grabs my arm. “You do not deserve to sit on the throne, witch.”
“Remove your hand, Lady Pembroke.” Edward’s tone is freezing. “Whatever you wish to say, she is still the princess.”
The king sends us a disapproving look, but he does not comment when Edward pulls me along. The king, queen, Edward and I sit on the thrones, while Bianca, Lady Bradshaw, and Katriona occupy the seats below. I close my eyes for a second and pray. There must be a way out of this. There must.
“Bianca Bradshaw,” the queen says slowly. “Are you saying that the woman sitting beside you is your real sister, while the woman my son married is not?”
Bianca lifts her chin. “We were deceived. I don’t know what kind of magic she has been using, but somehow she took advantage of my sister’s identity, called herself Katriona Bradshaw, and tried to gain favor with you.”
“There is no magic in this country,” the king says sharply. A bit too vehemently, like the mention of magic offends his ears. “What proof do you have that the woman with you is your real sister?”
Bianca repeats our conversation at our house, describing in detail how I failed to answer all those basic questions. “I would guess that this woman” —she points at me— “is some despicable commoner, and upon discovering that she resembles my sister, she hatched this plot. She abducted my sister, sneaked into our house, and used every opportunity behind our backs to seduce Prince Edward.”
“Kat never tried to seduce me,” Edward says sharply. “If anything, I had to persuade her to marry me.”
He deals her an intense glare, and Bianca flinches.
“Pardon me, Your Majesties,” Lady Bradshaw says, speaking for the first time. Compared to Bianca, she looks nervous. Possibly because she had been convicted of her crime committed toward Elle. “But this is not uncommon. If you had read the latest gothic novel, The Woman in Red, you will find a similar occurrence in the plot—two women who look alike are exchanged.”
My heart jumps. I’ve read the novel she has been talking about. Two women who look similar enough to be passed off as twins, one rich and one poor, are exchanged so that the poor woman could inherit the rich one’s fortune. The narrative is chilling and horrifying, and it fascinated the public (including me), and according to Mr. Wellesley, it has sold thousands of copies.
“Let us not bring fiction into this,” the king says contemptuously. “How could Kat manage to remove Katriona Bradshaw? Were there any accomplices? And if she has been masquerading as Katriona Bradshaw, then where was Katriona Bradshaw this whole time?”
Bianca colors. “It seems to have occurred after the wedding, Your Majesty. My sister was unconscious, and when she woke up, she found herself in a small Moryn village.”
I feel as if cold water was splashed over me. Jér?me told me that he saw a girl who looked like me in Moryn. It had to be Katriona Bradshaw. And to think I dismissed his comment, never imagining that she’d come back and stir up all this trouble.
The real Katriona speaks. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I truly don’t know what happened to me. When I woke up in the village, I was wearing a wedding dress and I had this.” She holds up a glittering ring. Next to me, Edward catches his breath. It is our wedding ring, the ring I lost when I arrived in Athelia.