When the lady opened her eyes, she thought she was looking in a mirror.
Her reflection lifted a knife toward her neck.
Instinct born of practice took over. Her arm shot up just in time to block the attack, and she hissed as the muscle in her arm became exposed to the air.
A punch sent the assassin reeling and left the lady shaking her hand. Now, both of the lady's arms throbbed. Blood seeped from her wound. She ignored the liquid flow down her skin and scrambled back across the bed. She almost ended up on the floor before she got her tangled legs free of the blankets.
She set her feet down on the floor and turned to face her attacker. She found herself, yet again, looking at a face identical to her own.
"Bitch," her doppelganger said and spat blood on the bed.
The doors shook. “My Lady? Are you alright?” called the voice of Margaret, her Lady-in-Waiting.
The sound of a key in the lock preceded the door swinging open. Margaret froze in the doorway and let out a scream. She turned back to the corridor. “Knights! Intruder!”
They had an audience now, and it would grow very quickly.
The assassin did not run.
The lady lifted her hands in a "halt" gesture. "Who are you? Why do you look just like me? Why are you trying to kill me?"
The assassin laughed. "You stole my life, but I'm the one who has to explain it to you? You fairies are something else."
The lady furrowed her brows. "That didn't explain anything."
“You're a changeling. You took over my life." The assassin raised the knife. "I've been beaten, kicked, thrown out of a moving vehicle, robbed and left for dead. It's been an eye-opener to the state of my fiefdom. My life is a nightmare because of your trickery. But if I get rid of you, the Fair Folk will lose their hold on the fiefdom through you. I can make sure such a situation never happens again, to me or to anyone else."
“My Lady? How can this—you must prove it!” Margaret pointed a finger at the assassin.
The assassin scowled. “What could I say that this creature wouldn’t have spied in my mind? I—” She paused. “No. I have an idea.” She smirked. “The Fair Folk can’t lie. That should work, shouldn’t it? The telling of a simple lie?”
The knights appeared in the doorway.
Margaret put out her arm. “Stop!”
The knights looked alarmed. They pushed forward with scowls. “Fairy!” one shouted at the assassin.
The assassin took a step back. “The sky is green!” she shouted over him. “The sky is green and the sun shines all night! If I were a fairy, I couldn’t have said any of that.” She turned and pointed her knife at the lady. “Say it!”
The room fell still.
As the silence dragged on, the lady knew this was the end. They’d never believe her now. She could misdirect, she could ask misleading questions, she could disguise herself, but she couldn’t outright pass false words as the truth.
She didn’t have to go quietly. She snarled. She stared at the swords in the knights’ hands, each blade tipped with killing iron.
She stepped onto the bed and jumped at the closest knight. Margaret let out a scream.
The knight’s sword cut the air.
It was the last thing the lady knew.
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