CHAPTER 3

The guards dragged me through the corridor like they wanted the entire palace to witness my downfall. My feet barely touched the ground. My wrists throbbed with every yank, ropes grinding against raw skin. My head pounded with each step, and the world tilted alarmingly when we turned the corner toward my chambers.

The doors were already open.

My heart plummeted.

My chambers were unrecognizable. Everything I owned lay scattered across the marble. My books, my gowns, my carved wooden chests, my pressed flower collection, my training blades, my ink jars, my journals. All dumped in a heap as if someone had taken a giant shovel and decided, yes, this is the appropriate method of organizing a princess’s belongings.

Guards stomped across the wreckage, crushing delicate things beneath their boots. I watched one step on a jar of rare ink with such enthusiasm that he might have been auditioning for a play titled How To Ruin Aveline’s Life In Ten Easy Steps.

A gown I wore at thirteen was ripped clean down the middle. A music box from my mother lay in pieces. My favorite writing quill was snapped in half. Someone had even torn the curtains from the window as if I might have used them to escape or, apparently, perform acrobatics.

“Why?” I whispered. “Why destroy everything?”

The nearest guard spat on the ground. “Orders.”

Of course they were.

The guards shoved me inside. I tripped over a shattered jar and caught myself on the edge of my overturned desk. Papers slid across the floor, rustling like dying leaves. All the little pieces of my life lay there, crushed without hesitation. My entire childhood reduced to a mess that looked like a dragon had eaten it and spit out the boring parts.

One guard stayed at the door. Two positioned themselves near the window, hands hovering near their swords as if I were about to sprout wings and fly away. I would have, if given the option.

I knelt, picking up the broken pieces of my mother’s music box. The gold inlay caught the torchlight. My hands trembled as I lifted the largest fragment. The lid. Two moons intertwined. My chest tightened painfully. I blinked fast, refusing to let tears fall in front of muscle brutes who thought curtains were a threat.

A soft knock sounded at the door.

Instantly, my neck prickled.

Seraphine glided inside like a ghost wearing designer silk. Her face was carved perfectly into sorrow, every tremble of her lip calibrated like she practiced in the mirror between rehearsing betrayal and drinking expensive tea.

“Oh Aveline,” she breathed, voice trembling with tragic delicacy. “I begged them to spare your belongings. I tried so hard.”

I stared at her, still holding the music box pieces. My stare said, I am considering homicide.

She pressed her hands to her heart. “If only you had listened. If only you had not lost control. If only you had not forced us into this position.”

The guards shifted, uneasy, as if her sadness might spread like a plague.

Seraphine cast them a trembling smile. “Could you give us a moment? Sister to sister?”

The guards hesitated. One looked like he’d rather stab himself than leave us alone. Another nodded reluctantly. “We will be right outside. You have five minutes.”

The door closed.

The second the lock clicked, Seraphine’s posture snapped into place. The grief melted from her face like cheap stage paint. Her shoulders straightened. Her eyes sharpened. Her smile curled into something carnivorous.

“Well,” she purred. “Look at you. On your knees. How poetic.”

A chill swept through me. I stood slowly, setting the broken music box lid onto the desk.

“What do you want?” I asked, though part of me feared she would actually tell me.

Her smile widened. “To savor this.”

Of course she did.

She circled me like I was a particularly interesting stain on the carpet. Her perfume was cloying, sweet enough to suffocate.

“You always made everything so difficult,” she whispered. “So adored. So admired. People looked at you and saw light. Promise. Destiny.”

My pulse hammered.

“And me?” She leaned in, lips close to my ear. “I was the shadow beside you. The unwanted ornament. The decorative afterthought.”

I whispered, “I did not choose any of that.”

“Exactly,” she hissed. “You did not have to choose. You merely existed.”

My teeth clenched.

She stepped in front of me, her satisfaction bright as a blade. “Let me enlighten you, dear sister. Since you deserve to know the magnitude of your failure.”

She leaned closer.

“I forged the rebellion letters.”

My breath caught. “What?”

“Oh yes,” she said, delighted. “All those accusations claiming you were conspiring against the crown? I wrote them. Every single one.”

My stomach twisted.

“And the witnesses?” I asked. “The lies they told?”

She smiled like a cat about to eat something expensive. “I bribed each of them. Some with gold. Some with fear. Some because they are idiots.”

My limbs went numb.

“And the evidence? The blade. The ledger. The documents.”

“Fabricated,” she whispered. “Every bit of it.”

My breath thinned. “Why? Why do this?”

She laughed softly. “Because you were born to shine. And I was born to take your place.”

I stepped back. She followed, graceful and horrifying.

“And your precious father?” she asked sweetly. “Did you truly think he condemned you by his own will?”

I froze. My heart slammed painfully.

“What did you do to him?” I whispered.

“Oh nothing,” she said airily. “But my mother did.”

A chill drenched me.

“She enchanted him,” Seraphine whispered.

My voice shook. “Enchanted him to what?”

“To believe everything we said,” she breathed. “To forget everything you said.”

My hand shot to the desk for balance. The wood bit into my palm.

“You destroyed him,” I whispered. “You destroyed everything.”

She smiled. “We destroyed you. That was the goal.”

“You are monsters.”

“Thank you,” she said brightly. “I excel at my craft.”

The door rattled. The guards checking in. Seraphine smoothed her dress, instantly transforming back into fragile perfection.

“You know,” she said lightly, “I only regret that you will not be here to see how happy Kaelan and I will be.”

My head snapped up. “Kaelan hates you.”

“Kaelan hates being powerless,” she replied sweetly. “And I offered him everything he ever wanted.”

I felt sick. “You manipulative, venom soaked—”

She twirled a strand of hair. “Did you truly think he would choose you over me?”

I lunged.

Anger erupted inside me like a storm. I launched toward her with a snarl, hands reaching for her throat.

But I never reached her.

The guards burst in. They grabbed me mid jump, slamming my arms behind me so hard I screamed. My knees hit the floor. My cheek smacked stone. My breath spread across the cold marble.

Seraphine stepped back delicately, dusting imaginary dirt from her sleeve. That woman would dust the wind if she thought it made her look superior.

She looked down at me with unfiltered triumph.

“You see,” she whispered, “you lose because you believe you deserve to win.”

“I will destroy you,” I hissed, shaking against the guards’ hold.

She leaned closer.

“I know.”

She walked to the door. Paused. Tilted her head.

“Thank you for making room for me.”

The door closed behind her.

I lay on the floor, breath shaking, hatred scorching my thoughts.

And in that moment, I made a promise.

I would tear her world apart.

No matter what they did to me.

No matter where they sent me.

No matter who I became.