Chapter 1: The King's Study

SERENE’S POV

I clutched my blanket like it was the only thing keeping me warm in this whole freezing castle, limping down the corridor to put everything back where it belonged. 

That was my job. To tidy things up and stay invisible. 

Simple, right? Wrong.

Two guards passed by and snickered. One of them intentionally bumped their arm against mine, sending me staggering. 

“Look, it’s the cripple.” The other jeered in a mocking tone. “Thought she died already.”

The first guard snorted and rolled his eyes. “She’s a stubborn bitch, carrying her curse all over the palace. I’ll have the pleasure of killing her myself one day.”

They laughed to themselves as they continued on their way. I didn't even flinch anymore. 

I just kept walking, dragging my bad leg behind me.

This was my life. People mocked me for existing, and I stopped expecting anything else a long time ago.

Up ahead, an older servant woman struggled with a stack of linens twice her size, wobbling as if she might collapse under the weight of it. 

I rushed over before I could even think about it.

"Let me help," I said, already reaching for half the pile.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "Oh no, dear, I couldn't possibly impose on you."

"I insist." I gave her my best smile.

She sighed and let me take the load, muttering blessings under her breath as she shuffled off. "Sweet girl. The gods will repay your kindness someday."

I almost believed her… almost.

Because I didn't believe in the gods or free kindness.

"Well, well. Look at Serena, playing little saint again." Julie's voice was enough to make me go rigid. "Guess helping everyone else means you've got time to slack on your own duties."

I turned, and there she was, flanked by Blair and Jane, her two loyal hounds.

"I… I wasn't slacking," I argued, my voice already shrinking. "I just finished my own-"

"Did I ask you to speak?" Julie snapped, her eyes flashing gold 

I shut my mouth quickly, reminding myself that they had a wolf. Unlike me. 

"I'm sorry," I whispered instead, bowing my head low. 

Julie snorted. "Sorry doesn't fix neglected duties, does it, girls?" 

I looked up to see her glancing at her minions.

"Nope," Blair said, smirking.

"Not even a little," Jane added with a snicker. 

I wanted to disappear into the stone floor. I really did. 

But instead, Julie snatched the blanket right out of my arms, and Blair mimicked my apology in a whiny voice that made my ears burn.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Blair sang, batting her eyelashes. “You sound like a broken doll.”

Julie was a lower servant inspector. That meant she had actual power over girls like me. 

I had nothing to fight back with. Initially, I hoped that she would get bored eventually, but it was over three years now. 

Julie grabbed my chin, forcing my face up so I had no choice but to look at her. 

Her nails dug in just enough to sting.

"You need to be punished," she whispered. "I think... the King's private study needs a good cleaning before he's back from his council meeting."

My whole body went cold. "No," I breathed. "Please, not there. Please, Julie, anywhere else but there!"

King Lucas Thorne wasn't just a king. He was a nightmare wearing a crown. 

People said he killed a servant once for leaving a single smudge on his boots. There were rumors about how he hated anything imperfect, and that was why he only surrounded himself with beautiful things. 

I had a broken leg, no wolf, and I stuttered whenever I was nervous. In short, I was everything he apparently despised.

"Do it," Julie said, shoving me toward the hallway that led to his wing. "Or I'll make sure you're flogged again. Would you like that, Serena? Should we remind your other leg what happened to this one?"

I flinched so hard I nearly fell, my nails digging into my own leg without me even meaning to. 

"Remember last time?" Julie leaned in, whispering like it was some delicious secret between friends. "How you screamed? How you couldn't walk for weeks? How you lost-"

"Stop," I choked out, tears already springing to my eyes. "Please, stop."

It had been years since I lost my left leg to that brutal punishment. I still felt the whip sometimes in my sleep.

Other times, I would wake up gasping like I was back there, chained and screaming while nobody came to help.

Julie smiled and turned on her heel. "Go now. Before you make it worse for yourself."

Then she walked away, leaving me standing there shaking in the middle of the corridor.

I hated my life. I hated this castle and every single soul who ever looked at me like I was something to scrape off their shoe. 

With a weary sigh, I reached up and held the little crescent-shaped necklace hanging from my neck.

It was the only thing I had left from a life I barely remembered anymore.

"How long," I whispered to no one, "do I have to keep enduring this?"

Thunder cracked overhead, like the sky itself was answering me. The clouds had turned an ugly shade of grey, like they were about to burst open with rain.

I pushed myself up, wiped my face, and grabbed my cleaning supplies before limping toward the King's wing. 

Might as well get it over with.

The guards at the door barely glanced at me until I flashed my badge, and then they let me through without a word.

The study was ridiculously enormous, like everything else that belonged to a man who thought the world existed to serve him.

“Let’s get to work, Serene,” I muttered to myself, rolling my sleeves and slipping on my cleaning gloves. 

I got to work immediately and started with straightening books, then dusting shelves. 

There was a stabbing pain that shot up my bad leg with every movement, but I ignored it. 

The sky outside kept darkening, thunder rolling closer, and I moved faster, praying I would finish before he ever showed up.

After another hour, or maybe less, I was finally done and heaving with exertion. 

Everything was spotless, exactly the way a tyrant like him would demand it. 

I grabbed my supplies, ready to bolt out of there before my luck ran out completely.

Because that was when the doors swung open.

"His royal majesty!” Someone announced from the door, “the King, Lucas Thorne, is here."

My heart didn't just drop. It fell straight to the floor.

Oh no.