Tessa
Maisie's intense blue eyes met Tessa's directly. "I don't deserve them. Or the crown. I… I almost died tonight. In the woods. And I had an epiphany. It occurred to me, somewhere around the part where I thought I might actually die, that I didn't want to die over men I don't particularly care about."
Tessa watched her carefully.
"So you can have them," she said. "And the crown. I'm leaving."
Tessa was taken aback. She turned the words over, searching for the trap inside them, because there had to be one.
But she noticed Maisie's hands were trembling. Her lips quivered and her eyes misted. And Tessa wondered if her attempted murder tonight had indeed instilled some much needed fear into Maisie. She preened at the thought that she was finally getting rid of this wretched leech.
Then, Maisie's shoulders began to shake.
Tessa thought for a second that Maisie was shaken up so badly, she had begun to cry.
