Chapter 3

Before I returned to the capital, Adrian had told me how much the Blackwell family had sacrificed to secure this engagement.

Cassian’s father had gone to the palace three times and transferred three valuable Northmere estates to the Crown before my father finally agreed.

When he learned that his son had ruined the marriage before the engagement ceremony even began, the consequences would be worth watching.

That thought improved my mood.

I turned toward the exit, but Juliette grabbed my arm from behind.

“Don’t even think about leaving. You took my necklace, pushed me onto the floor, and insulted Cassian. I’m not finished with you.”

Cassian’s protection had restored all her confidence.

I turned around calmly.

“What do you want?”

She mistook my calmness for fear and raised her nails toward my face.

“I’m going to ruin that arrogant face. Then we’ll see whether you still think you deserve Cassian.”

I caught her wrist before she could touch me.

“Let go!”

I pushed her backward. Her broken heel slipped, and she stumbled into the marble counter.

“Cassian!” she cried, hiding against his chest. “She attacked me again. You have to defend me.”

Cassian placed a possessive arm around her shoulders.

“No one lays a hand on someone under my protection without consequences.”

“She tried to claw my eyes.”

“I didn’t ask for your explanation.”

He raised one hand, and four Blackwell guards stepped forward.

I stared at him.

“Think carefully before you give that order.”

His expression darkened.

“Restrain her.”

The first guard reached for me. I kicked him in the knee, sending him crashing into a display case.

But I was outnumbered.

Two others seized my arms while another forced a hand against my shoulder. They shoved me down, and my knees struck the marble beneath Cassian’s polished shoes.

Pain shot through my legs.

The boutique went silent.

This was the man I had returned from the border prepared to marry. His family had begged mine for an alliance, yet at our first meeting, he had ordered his guards to force me to my knees.

Juliette clung to his arm.

“She still hasn’t apologized.”

Cassian looked down at me without emotion.

“Do whatever you want,” he told her. “No matter what happens, I’m on your side.”

Juliette’s eyes lit with triumph.

She walked toward me and slapped me across the face.

Before I could recover, she struck me again. My head snapped sideways, and I tasted blood.

“Where did all that confidence go?” she asked. “Tell me again that Cassian isn’t worthy of you.”

Her red heel drove into my stomach.

I doubled over, but the guards held my arms so tightly that I could not protect myself.

The customers gasped. No one intervened.

Cassian had given his permission. In Northmere, that apparently made anything acceptable.

I forced myself upright.

“You will both regret this.”

Juliette laughed.

“This is Cassian’s territory. You’re just an unwanted outsider. What could you possibly do to us?”

Her gaze landed on a pair of silver scissors behind the counter.

She picked them up and turned them between her fingers.

“I’ll show you what happens to women who challenge me.”

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled my head backward.

“You came here to choose a necklace for your engagement ceremony, didn’t you?” she whispered. “Let’s see how it looks once you have no hair left.”

Uneasy murmurs spread through the crowd.

“That’s going too far.”

“Duke Blackwell told her she could do whatever she wanted.”

“Then no one should interfere.”

Juliette pressed the scissors against my hair.

I had treated dying soldiers while gunfire shook the walls around me. I had faced armed raiders without begging for mercy.

But then, I had been able to fight back.

Now four men held me down while another woman prepared to mutilate me in front of the man I had returned to marry.

The blades closed.

Several strands of hair fell onto the marble.

Panic tightened my chest.

Juliette laughed when she saw my expression.

“So you are afraid of something.”

She gathered a thicker section.

“Stop.”

She paused, savoring the word.

“What was that?”

“Take the necklace,” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t want it anymore. Just put the scissors down.”

Her face brightened.

“Are you begging me?”

Saving my hair mattered more than my pride.

“Please. Don’t do this.”

Juliette smiled and closed the scissors again.

A thick lock of hair dropped beside my knee.

“No!”

“Too late.” She laughed. “I won’t stop until there’s nothing left. Then we’ll see whether you still dream of becoming Cassian’s duchess.”

I looked at Cassian.

He stood with his arms folded, watching with cold indifference. He could have ended this with one word.

He chose not to.

“You don’t know who I am,” I warned him. “You will regret allowing this.”

He shrugged.

“And who exactly are you?”

His gaze moved dismissively over my bruised face and the severed hair on the floor.

“You are nothing more than a woman your family offered for a political alliance. A bargaining piece dressed as a bride.”

The words hurt more than Juliette’s hand.

I had returned prepared to become his partner. Cassian saw me as an unwanted transaction he was free to humiliate.

Juliette tightened her grip on my hair.

“All the more reason to finish this. Once she’s bald, perhaps she’ll understand that she was never going to become the Duchess of Northmere.”

The scissors opened again.

At that moment, my phone rang.

I tried to reach it, but Juliette snatched it from my bag. Adrian’s name appeared on the screen.

She answered and switched the call to speaker.

“Sera,” Adrian said, “did you choose the necklace? The banquet begins in two hours.”

The sound of his voice nearly broke the control I had left.

“Adrian, help me. They’re holding me down. She’s cutting my hair.”

His tone changed instantly.

“Who is doing that to you?”

Juliette laughed into the phone.

“Your sister was behaving like a savage. You should thank me for teaching her some discipline.”

Silence answered her.

Then Adrian spoke, his voice dangerously controlled.

“Release my sister. Now.”

Juliette glanced at Cassian. He made no attempt to stop her.

“And if I refuse?”

“If you force me to come to Northmere, everyone involved will answer to me.”

“You’re welcome to try,” she mocked. “Bring enough money to pay for the necklace your sister stole. Perhaps I’ll give you a matching haircut when you arrive.”

She ended the call and threw my phone onto the floor.

The screen cracked against the marble.

“Your brother sounds almost as arrogant as you.”

She grabbed my hair again.

The scissors closed, and another section fell.

Every second dragged endlessly. My wrists burned in the guards’ hands, and each breath sent pain through my stomach.

Cassian remained close enough to stop her with a word.

He never spoke.

Ten minutes later, engines thundered outside.

Black armored vehicles swept into the street and blocked both entrances to the square. Car doors opened in perfect unison.

Customers crowded around the windows.

“Those vehicles belong to the royal guard.”

“Why would the Crown send soldiers to Northmere?”

Juliette’s hand froze in my hair.

Heavy, synchronized footsteps approached.

The boutique doors opened, and a man in a dark gray coat stepped inside.

Adrian Valemont.

Crown Prince of Aurelia.

Twelve armed royal guards followed him and formed two precise lines. Dozens more surrounded the building outside.

Juliette slowly released my hair.

Cassian recognized Adrian immediately.

All the color drained from his face.

His gaze moved from the Crown Prince to me, then to the guards forcing me to kneel. Finally, he saw the blood on my lip and the severed hair scattered across the floor.

For the first time, the Duke of Northmere looked afraid.

Adrian saw my bruised face, the scissors in Juliette’s hand, and the men restraining me.

His expression turned terrifyingly still.

“I’m Adrian Valemont, Crown Prince of Aurelia.”

No one moved.

He looked directly at Cassian.

“Now, where is the idiot who gave them permission to lay a hand on my sister?”