LOGINLIAM I picked up the nearest chair and hurled it at the wall.The wood splintered. The crack echoed through the chamber, and for a brief second it felt good, felt like my fury had found a body to inhabit. But the relief evaporated just as quickly, leaving the anger I felt earlier to consume me.Emmalaine was getting out of hand with this nonsense behavior of hers. I couldn't believe she'd be this brave after I literally gave her a new life.The audacity of her still burned behind my eyes. The way she had stood there flinging my guards aside as though they were nothing to her. The way she had walked to the throne and embarrassed me.I dragged a hand through my hair and laughed.“She forgets herself,” I muttered to the empty room. “Just this privilege and she's already misbehaving.”But even as I said it, I knew the truth gnawed beneath everything I Said, Emmalaine wasn’t forgetting herself. She was remembering who she was and what exactly she was capable of.I crossed the room in long
EMMALAINE I didn’t move for a long moment after Evelyn spoke.The words I will be your surrogate echoed in my head like a drumbeat, each repetition louder than the last. My body felt oddly suspended, like the ground beneath me had vanished and I was hovering between disbelief and something dangerously close to hope.“You…” My voice cracked despite myself. I cleared my throat and gestured toward the chair near the window. “Sit. Sit down.”She did, watching me closely, her expression calm, deliberate, too calm for someone who had just detonated my world. At this point I felt like I was dreaming, but then I didn't know if I could completely trust her. First, Evelyn was just like me, she was so ambitious and might want something I might not be able to to give in the future.“Are you serious?” I asked, lowering myself into the chair opposite her. My fingers curled tightly in my lap, nails biting into my skin as if pain might anchor me. “Say it again. Slowly.”Evelyn leaned back, crossing
EMMALAINEThe moment I saw her face in the doorway, my blood turned to ice.Evelyn.Of all people in this world, it has to be her.My fingers tightened around the doorframe as I glanced down the corridor, my pulse thundering in my ears. Servants passed at a distance, oblivious, carrying trays and linens, unaware that a ghost from my worst sins stood inches from my private space.“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed, lowering my voice as I stepped closer to her. “Do you have any idea what time this is? What kind of danger you’re putting me in?”Evelyn only smiled.That slow, knowing smile that had once undone me and nearly destroyed me.“Long time no see, Emm,” she said softly, as if we were old friends meeting over tea instead of my demise.She stepped forward, intending to walk past me into my room.I shoved her back hard, my palm hitting her chest.“Don’t even think about it,” I snapped. “You shouldn’t be here. If anyone sees you then I'm in trouble.”She laughed.The sound
CHAPTER 128EMMALAINE I had never hated another woman the way I hated Charlotte. This bitch should just do the world a favor and die! At this point I was beginning to question if I made the right choice asking her to serve as a maid, when i could just kill her.The realization struck me like poison the moment I stepped into the kitchen and saw her standing there.Every man I had ever clawed my way to had looked at her.My husband. Even the fools who should have bowed their heads when she entered a room.It made my skin crawl.She was nothing to compared to me! And yet she stood there speaking back to a king as if she had any right to breathe the same air.The sound of my footsteps announced me before my voice did.The slap echoed sharply.Charlotte’s head snapped to the side, her body swaying as her cheek bloomed red beneath my palm.“How dare you,” I said coldly, my voice steady despite the fire burning through me, “raise your voice to the king, you imbecile!”She looked at me with
CHARLOTTE The world narrowed to a single point the moment my eyes locked onto my children. At first I prayed to the moon goddess that this was all a bad night mare that will soon come to an end, but the night mare was taking longer than usual and it's already beginning to seem real. They were right there.Curled on the cold floor beside the bed, small bodies pressed together like they were trying to keep warm, eyes wide and silent. My heart slammed so violently against my ribs that for a second, I thought I might collapse. Air left my lungs in a sharp, broken gasp.“This can't be happening.” I whispered.Something inside me snapped.I surged forward without thinking, without fear, without reason. My hands flew out and wrapped around Emmalaine’s neck, fingers digging into soft flesh as rage unlike anything I had ever known exploded through my veins. At this point I didn't even a fuck about anything, I just wanted to inflict pain on her and let her feel half of what I'm feeling. “Wha
CHARLOTTE I did not know how long I stayed on the cold marble floor after the elders dismissed me. Time blurred into something shapeless, measured only by the ache in my chest and the way my tears kept falling even when I no longer felt them. The palace noise returned gradually, the laughter, clinking goblets, music drifting through corridors like a cruel reminder that the world had not ended just because mine had.I was still kneeling when soft footsteps approached.I lifted my head slowly, my vision blurred, and saw Selena standing before me.She looked immaculate.Her gown shimmered pale gold under the lantern light, her hair braided elegantly over one shoulder, her lips curved in a smile that was not kind. She tilted her head as if studying a broken object left behind after a celebration.“So,” she said lightly, folding her arms, “have you decided?”My throat felt raw. I swallowed, forcing air into lungs that felt like they were collapsing.“Decided what?” My voice sounded distan







