The Hidden Luna Queen (Maeve and Xaden) novel Chapter 107

But they were hardly making any headway with their mission to break up Maeve and Prince Xaden. With every passing day, they were running out of time.

“Honestly,” Victoria scoffed, rolling her eyes at Bella. “We could have made some progress if you hadn’t given up so quickly during your tea with Princess Charlotte. If you had been more discrete with your questioning, like we’d discussed, then maybe we’d have something we could work with…”

Bella’s stomach plummeted. She didn’t want to be seen as the weak link of their team. “I-I’m sorry, Luna Victoria,” she muttered, lowering her gaze. “I tried my best, but she evaded all—”

“If you did, then my daughter still wouldn’t be behind bars,” Victoria countered, projecting her pain and misery onto the girl and ignoring the subsequent widening of Bella’s eyes. “But you’ve always tried to get yourself ahead of Sarah, haven’t you? Maybe what you really want is for my daughter—your best friend—to be locked up for trying to attain the attention of your beloved Prince Xaden.”

Bella blanched. “That’s not true,” she protested, albeit weakly.

Sarah gaped, horrified. “Is that what you really want, you deceitful bitch?! After all that we’ve been through together?!”

“Don’t do this to me!” Bella shouted. “Why would I go through all this trouble with the princess and risk getting myself thrown in prison if I only wanted to keep you back there?! This is all to right the wrongs committed by your sister! She’s the real villain here!”

“Fine, fine…” Victoria muttered, raising a hand to placate the agitated girl. “You are a valuable asset, we know. But this is something we need to do before they get married, otherwise the prince is lost to us forever and Maeve will be untouchable. You’ll have to go back and try this again.”

The thing was, Bella had tried. She had tried for days to even be able to come to one of the princess’s highly coveted tea parties in the palace rose garden, but now that she had finally been able to, she was quick to learn that getting answers about Maeve’s status—both regarding her relationship with Prince Xaden and when any possible mating ceremony would be taking place—would not be as easy as they anticipated. This was not something that could just be resolved through simply asking questions.

Especially if no one in the palace seemed keen to even acknowledge Maeve’s existence.