That weekend I go to Argentum's house and give them an update on the situation. They ask, "Are you sure you don't need me to help in some way?"
"Adding another person into the equation would just complicate things unnecessarily."
"So I have to sit out while you and Andromeda get to be all heroic and daring?"
"Until one of our co-conspirators is revealed to be the long lost heir."
"How are we going to decide who?"
"I assumed we'd pick names out of a hat or something."
"That would work I guess."
"Anyway, I'd rather not think about that stuff right now."
Argentum chuckles. "What were you planning to do instead?"
I smile. "I dunno." Then I kiss them.
—
Andromeda never tells me what exactly her plan is for the assassination. She never even thinks about it in front of me. I choose to take this as a sign that the plan won't be found out.
The night before the spring equinox, I ask Andromeda "You're going to be ok, right? You won't get put in jail or something?"
"Of course. You don't have to worry about me."
I wake up in a cold sweat, my stomach knotted with nerves. I can't decide whether breakfast would help settle it or if I wouldn't be able to keep food down. I decide to play it safe and have oatmeal. I've got a decent constitution anyway.
—
The ceremony is almost exactly what you might expect. The palace courtyard is filled to the brim with people in fancy clothes, with two veiled figures in the center. I assume they're the king and queen.
One of the figures steps forward and says, "Welcome all. As you know, you're here today to finally truly join the Nova by pledging your loyalty to me and the king. Now start getting in an orderly line."
And so we do. Of course, Andromeda volunteers to go first. As Andromeda curtsies and recites the pledge of loyalty. "I will give everything I do and everything I am to you, your majesties." The king and queen start laughing. "We don't believe you." Guards come up behind Andromeda and bind her hands. "Bind her co-conspirator too," says a very familiar voice from behind me.
"I'm not just her co-conspirator," I reply on instinct. "It was all my idea."
I don't want to turn around, but I do. As I thought, it's Argentum. As a guard ties my hands behind my back I ask, "Why? Why would you betray us?"
They reply as if the answer is completely obvious. "You think you're so special. You think you have some sort of grand destiny to save the world or whatever. Yet you're scared to do what it takes to claim that destiny. You'd rather hide behind someone bigger and louder. Someone like me. Pathetic." They flash a perverse version of the special grin they reserved only for me and continue, "But I don't blame you for falling for the first person who doesn't treat you like some pure, innocent, fragile little creature in need of constant repairs and maintenance." They chuckle. "The whole doe-eyed lovesick schoolkid thing wasn't the most convincing act of my life, but I guess it did the trick. You fell for it. Hook. Line. And. Sinker."