03 The Queen They Couldn’t Silence

Cassandra's POV

“Sandra, please,” Richard said, trying to appeal to my good side, but it only made me laugh some more.

“This is madness,” I said, still laughing.

It wasn’t polite laughter. It wasn’t ladylike. It was jagged, sharp, the kind of laugh that scraped the air raw. My voice carried through the gilded chamber, making Diana flinch, making Rachel shrink into her seat, making Richard shift uncomfortably.

And making Ivana’s smile falter.

“I won’t agree to this nonsense,” I said, my voice hardening.

For the first time, Ivana looked truly surprised. Then her expression curdled into offense, as though she couldn’t fathom anyone refusing her decree.

She expected me to smile, nod, and play the perfect princess. To stand at her side and make her treachery look like tradition.

She had forgotten who I was.

“She’s not staying in my home,” I said, my words cutting like glass. “And I will not stand before the press and welcome two bastards born of betrayal.”

The silence cracked like ice.

Ivana’s hand struck my cheek before anyone could move.

The slap echoed.

I didn’t flinch.

I looked her dead in the eye, my face burning but my pride intact.

She was lucky I still respected my elders. Barely.

“Mother, please, ” Richard’s voice was desperate, his hands raised as if he could smooth this disaster. “Sandra, ”

“Shut up, Richard.” My words snapped through the air like a whip.

He froze.

“How would you feel,” I demanded, “if I got pregnant by another man and asked you to smile and accept it? To raise his child for the sake of your precious image? Do you think I couldn’t? Do you think I don’t have choices too?”

His jaw tightened. Rage flickered in his eyes, that same possessive streak that once thrilled me and now disgusted me. He hated the idea. Hated even hearing it.

Good.

I wanted him to feel the sting of betrayal too.

“You don’t have a say in this,” Ivana snapped.

“Perfect,” I said, smiling like venom. “Then don’t ask me to be your puppet. I won’t stand before the press. And if you try to force me, I’ll create a scandal that will stain your precious crown forever.”

For the first time, I saw it, a flicker of fear in Ivana’s eyes. Quickly masked, but there.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed.

“Oh, but I would,” I whispered, stepping closer until I could feel the heat of her anger. “And you of all people should know exactly what a scorned woman is capable of.”

I turned sharply to Richard, my voice slicing him open.

“You betrayed me. Lied to me. Built a family in secret while I was bleeding and crying for the one we never had. And now you want me to polish your lie with my silence? You think I’ll smile for the cameras, so the world thinks I drove you into another woman’s arms? Think again, Richard. I can be vicious. I can be impossible. And this, ” my finger jabbed toward Rachel and her children “, this is where I draw the line.”

Rachel gasped softly. Her children clung to her legs, confused by the tension in the air.

I turned my glare on her. “You let yourself be used by a married man. What did they promise you? A title? Riches? A wardrobe full of gowns that will never make you queen? You’ll never be anything but a concubine. And your children, ” I shifted my gaze to Ivana, cold as ice, “, will never sit on that throne.”

“That’s not true,” Ivana said too quickly. Too defensively.

“Of course it is.” My laugh was low, cruel. “Arden and Sebastien weren’t bastards. Their mother was married to the king. And yet Arden was denied his rightful place because she was a commoner. You think James will stand a chance? You think Eldenwald will bow to a king who hides mistresses and parades illegitimate children? Richard won’t last a month.”

Richard’s voice broke the silence, desperate. “It was IVF.”

The word hung in the air like a pathetic shield.

I turned to him slowly. “And I should care because…?”

He swallowed. “It wasn’t an affair. There was no intimacy. Just science. I needed an heir, ”

“Don’t you dare,” I snapped, fury igniting in my veins. “Don’t you dare sanitize your betrayal with science. While I was bleeding for our failed pregnancies, you were building a secret family. While I cried into pillows in this palace, you were tucking children into bed. And now you stand here and expect gratitude?”

Ivana gasped, offended by my language. “Watch your mouth, Cassandra, ”

But I didn’t look at her.

I stared at Richard. At the boy I once loved. At the man who had let ambition rot him from the inside out.

“This marriage is dead,” I said quietly, with the kind of calm that made him flinch harder than my slap had. “And nothing, nothing, you do can bring it back to life.”

His face crumpled. “You have to understand. A king without an heir is weak. I only did what was necessary. Now you don’t have to suffer anymore. No more doctors. No more clinics. We can still have a good life together.”

I laughed again, bitter and sharp. “And her?” I nodded toward Rachel.

“She signed a contract,” Richard rushed to say. “She’s just the mother of my children. Nothing more. No intimacy. No… no feelings.”

The lie clung to him like smoke.

This man thought I was a fool.

Ivana stepped forward, her voice cold and low. “You would do well to behave yourself. You wouldn’t like it if I spoke to your parents. Or worse, turned against your family entirely. We have all the support now, Cassandra. The Montclairs are no longer necessary. Your father sacrificed everything for this cause. Don’t throw it away out of pride.”

Her words were poison, but the threat was real.

She leaned closer, her perfume cloying, her presence suffocating.

“You will be queen. Your father will be named the king’s Hand. That’s already decided. Don’t make a mountain out of an anthill. Be wise. Queens don’t let emotions cloud their judgment.”

Her hand smoothed the fabric of my sleeve, a mockery of tenderness.

“Tomorrow, we hold the press release,” she said softly, smugly. “You’ll welcome Rachel and the children into the family with grace. Like a true queen.”

She turned to leave, Rachel following like a shadow, the children clinging to her skirts. Richard stayed behind, guilt painted across his face.

And I stood there in the ruins of everything I once believed in.

Ivana thought she had won.

She had the crown. The children. The court.

But me?

I still had something she could never take, my voice.

And I would use it.

Even if it burned her empire to the ground.

When the door shut behind them, the silence pressed heavy.

Diana finally looked at me, her eyes brimming with tears she had tried to hide.

“My lady, ”

“Don’t,” I whispered, cutting her off. “Not a word. Not yet.”

Because I knew one thing:

Ivana wanted obedience.

Richard wanted silence.

Rachel wanted acceptance.

But I wasn’t giving them any of it.

They thought they had broken me.

But they had only woken something far more dangerous.