Viscount Maren Kael has served the Crown as its spymaster for a decade — anonymously. To the court, he's a dull, forgettable minor noble who attends no balls and holds no opinions. When an assassination attempt nearly kills the queen, suspicion falls on the spymaster's network, and Maren needs to prove his loyalty fast. The problem: the queen demands to meet the spymaster's *wife* — a woman Maren invented years ago as cover and who does not exist. Enter Dalla, a travelling actress stranded in the capital after her theatre company collapsed. She can play any role, and he needs the performance of a lifetime. She expects a few weeks of pretending at court dinners. What she stumbles into is the actual assassination conspiracy — because the killer is using the same skill she has. They're performing too. And they're *better*.
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The Spymaster's Stand-In
by unsent.ducael
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Viscount Maren Kael has served the Crown as its spymaster for a decade — anonymously. To the court, he's a dull, forgettable minor noble who attends no balls and holds no opinions. When an assassination attempt nearly kills the queen, suspicion falls on the spymaster's network, and Maren needs to prove his loyalty fast. The problem: the queen demands to meet the spymaster's *wife* — a woman Maren invented years ago as cover and who does not exist. Enter Dalla, a travelling actress stranded in the capital after her theatre company collapsed. She can play any role, and he needs the performance of a lifetime. She expects a few weeks of pretending at court dinners. What she stumbles into is the actual assassination conspiracy — because the killer is using the same skill she has. They're performing too. And they're *better*.