Fake Princess
CHAPTER 116
My tongue felt muddy and dry, so I took a sip of tea, then nearly spat it out again as it burned my tongue. “ Can I see your left arm?” ask me after talking again.
“ Why?”
“ Can I just see it?”
That sharp expression was directed at me again, but finally Bella stretched out her arm. Carefully, as I did when I approached the injured animal, I twisted his arm until his palm was facing upwards. Bella was wearing a patched brown dress, her arms were a little short. Almost without breathing, I pushed the sleeve that covered Bella's left arm.
Three small reddish dots, arranged to form a rough triangle, are located just below the elbow basin.
I let Bella's arm down, resisted the urge to wipe the same spot on my arm, and thought in panic.
My plan, which appeared while sitting on a bench outside the tavern while waiting for the appearance of a girl who looked like Riana, now felt very silly. Worse, without a doubt I knew that if I lied to Bella, if I told her something other than the truth, we would stand no chance. Had I told you my story about a relative and a legacy in Vivaskari, when I found out the truth, Bella would never have trusted me again. I just spent a little time with Bella, but I already know this girl is being treated more harshly than I originally thought. The look in his eyes said all that, the small, sharp movements he made as he was shocked said all that, and his harsh speech when cornered told all that. Bella's whole life has been deceived and attacked, and if I lie to her, I'll lose her.
I've been training myself, ever since I saw Riana being strung out behind the palace window, to shut up. There were only two other people who knew the rough idea of what really happened sixteen years ago—Devan, which I trusted more than myself, he said, and the nameless Diviner who had silenced himself. Those long days of secrecy left me trembling with fear and unable to consider telling anyone else, even the real princess, who was at the heart of all this.
“ Bella,” I said slowly, “ I want to say this will sound crazy. But you have to trust me.”
He waited without speaking, and I gulped. There's no easy way to say it, I just need to say it. “ Until I was sixteen, I also had the same birthmark as you. Or it looks like I have. Actually, it was just part of a spell that made me look like the princess .”
Bella is waiting. “ Now the girl who is in the palace has the same mark, but hers is also not real. Because just like me, she's not a real princess either. Some tricked the king and queen, betraying them by swapping the princess, not just once but twice.”
I put the tea cup on the rickety table that was on my phone. “ Bella, there is only one person who has a real birthmark. You're. You are the real princess. You're Diana.”
Bella was silent for so long that I thought I didn't hear her. But when I meant to repeat it, he stood up from his chair.
Seriate