Chapter 1

The Crown Prince nocked an arrow and drew. Two breaths later, the wedding orb that had hung outside the family chapel with my name tied to it for five long years dropped cleanly into his arms.

"In that case, I'll return tomorrow with a royal marriage decree to ask for Lady Evelina's hand."

It wasn't until Lord Aldous, the head of our family, placed the betrothal token in Crown Prince Lucien's hands that the tears finally came.

So the orb I'd waited on year after year, only to be let down every time, could be brought down that easily by anyone who actually cared to try.

It made those five years of waiting look like nothing but one long, pathetic joke.

I walked back to the manor in a daze, and ran straight into my older brother, Edmund Ashbourne, carrying a bow and arrows.

"Get rid of these," he told a servant. "Make sure Evelina doesn't see them."

When he turned and saw me, panic flickered across his face. He tried to hide the bow, but I stopped him.

The string hung slack. The arrows were battered and split. This was the bow Edmund had sworn to me about that very morning.

"This year I'm picking out the finest bow and arrows myself. If that Cedric finds one more excuse to miss and hurt you again, Evelina, I'll make him pay!"

I heard my own voice shake.

"So you knew about Rosamund and Cedric all along. You helped them lie to me, just like Mother and Father did."

I wanted him to shake his head and tell me it wasn't true. I wanted him to tell me that in this whole enormous house, there was at least one person who'd always been on my side.

Instead, he shook off my hand impatiently.

"You and Cedric are getting married sooner or later anyway. What does it matter if it's a few years late?

"But Rosamund's different. She's willing to marry far away in the south just so she won't come between you two.

"We owe her that. Do you really have to be so petty about it? Why can't you be sweet and obedient like Rosamund? No wonder Cedric likes her better than you."

I couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

"What about me? Where does that leave me?

"Cedric is my fiance. Rosamund falling for her own sister's fiance is shameful enough as it is. Why should I be the one who owes her—"

Smack!

"Evelina, how dare you talk about Rosamund like that!"

I stared at my brother's raised hand in disbelief. Clutching my face, I staggered and nearly lost my footing.

This wasn't the brother I remembered. He'd promised he would always protect me and never let anyone bully his only sister. When our parents adopted Rosamund, he'd promised that no matter what happened, he'd always stand by me.

And now, for her sake, he'd slapped me across the face with his own hand.

The rest of the household came running at the noise and froze when they saw me.

But my parents didn't ask about my injury. Instead, they shielded Rosamund behind them and glared at me with open displeasure.

"Evelina, what kind of scene are you making? Your marriage to Cedric is already set in stone. Why put on this pitiful act? What's one more year?"

What's one more year?

The first year Cedric missed the orb, everyone joked that even the army's rising star could get nervous and slip.

The second year he missed, everyone's eyes quietly settled on me, standing there pale.

By the third and fourth years, the whole capital was saying that Evelina, eldest daughter of House Ashbourne, was a curse, and that Lord Cedric missing every year was heaven warning him not to bring a woman like that into his house.

Today, when Cedric missed the target entirely, those looks of disgust and contempt weren't even hidden anymore.

A few shameless men had even pushed their way through the crowd toward me, their filthy words pouring into my ears.

"Five years and Lady Evelina still can't get married off. Why not let me take a shot at that orb?"

"Even if she's the death of me, one night with a fine lady like her would make my whole life worth it! Ha!"

Countless leering hands had reached for me. My parents and my fiance had seen it all. They'd simply turned away and hurried Rosamund home, shielding her the whole way.

And left me standing there alone.