LOGINSerena's POV
I pressed myself against the wall and continued to listen to their plans.
"Not everyone supports Felipe," the second noble said. "Doña Beatriz and her allies will not stand with him."
"They do not need to stand with him," the first noble countered. "They just need to stand aside."
The second noble was quiet for a moment, then he looked up.
"And what about the huma
Serena's POVI pressed myself against the wall and continued to listen to their plans."Not everyone supports Felipe," the second noble said. "Doña Beatriz and her allies will not stand with him.""They do not need to stand with him," the first noble countered. "They just need to stand aside."The second noble was quiet for a moment, then he looked up."And what about the human? The king will not let her go," the second noble said.The first noble laughed. "The human is the key, and Felipe will use her to break the king. Once the king is broken, the human will be discarded, because she is nothing more than a tool."I felt my hands curl into fists at my sides when I heard the words "A tool." That was all I was to them, and that was all I had ever been."Then we move quickly," the second noble said. "Before
Serena's POVRamona's words stayed with me long after I left her chambers that night. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and I turned them over and over in my mind like stones in my palm. "Start by watching, start by listening, and pay attention to the people around him."I thought about Felipe, sitting in his chambers, plotting his next move. I thought about Alejandro, on his throne, blind to all the danger closing in around him. And I thought about myself, sitting in the shadows, invisible to everyone who walked past.I had spent my whole life being invisible. I had made myself small, quiet, and unnoticeable. It had been my shield, my armor, and my way of surviving.But now I realized that invisibility was not just a shield, it was also a weapon.I could not sleep that night, so I walked through the halls, with my bare feet silent on the cold stone floor. The castle wa
Serena's POVRamona closed the door behind me, and the sound of it clicking shut echoed in the small room. She walked to the chair by the fire, and she sat down slowly, like her bones were tired, and like she had been carrying the weight of this castle for longer than anyone could remember.I stood in the middle of the room, with my arms wrapped around myself, still shivering from the cold that had seeped into my bones. I had not bothered to change out of my thin shirt, and the warmth of the fire was just beginning to reach me."Sit," Ramona said.I nodded and sat down.The chair was hard beneath me, and the wood was cold through my thin trousers. I shifted, trying to find a comfortable position, but there was none. My body was still shaking from the cold, and my mind was still spinning with everything that had happened.Ramona watched me, patient and s
Serena's POVI knew I had to go back inside, because the cold was seeping into my skin fast. So I turned, and I started walking toward the castle gates.And then I saw him.Alejandro was standing in the snow, with his golden eyes fixed on me, and his dark coat blending into the shadows. His face was pale, and his jaw was tight, and he looked like he had been standing there for a long time."Serena," he said.I stopped walking."I tried to find you," he said. "I looked for you after you left, and I wanted to explain.""There is nothing to explain," I cut him off."There is," he said. "I did not want to do it. I really did not want to exile her, but I had no choice."I laughed, and the sound was bitter and cold."There is always a choice," I said. "You chose the law, you c
Serena's POVI stayed against the door for what felt like hours, but it was probably only minutes.The silence in the castle pressed down on me, heavy and cold, and I could not shake the image of Camila's face from my mind. The way she had looked at me, and the way she had smiled even as they dragged her away.Then it hit me, that I had not said goodbye.I had not held her one last time. I had not told her that I would find her, that I would bring her back, and that I would not let her disappear into the frozen waste without knowing that someone cared.I pushed myself off the door, and I ran.The door slammed behind me, and I was running as fast as I could.My bare feet were cold against the stone floor of the hallway, but I did not care. I did not care about anything except catching up to Camila, before they dragged her out i
Serena's POVCamila did not deny it. She lifted her chin, and her grey eyes met his, and she spoke without fear."I did it to save others," she said. "There are humans in the southern territories who have no idea what is coming for them. They deserve to know, and they deserve a chance to fight.""You betrayed this castle," Alejandro said coldly.The room went silent, and even the fire seemed to hold its breath. I could hear my own heartbeat, pounding loud and fast in my chest, and I could see the guards exchanging glances, and the nobles whispering behind their hands.Camila did not flinch. She knelt on the cold stone floor with her hands bound and her wrists bleeding, and she looked at Alejandro like she was not afraid of him."I betrayed a castle full of monsters," she said. "And I am not sorry for that. I am sorry that I got caught, and I am sorry th
I woke to the smell of bread and honey, and for a moment I forgot where I was.The mattress was soft beneath me, and the blankets were warm, and the fire had been relit sometime while I was sleeping, casting orange light across the ceiling in dancing shadows. I
I woke the morning after my meeting with Felipe, and the first thing I saw was the tray of food on the table, still untouched from the day before.The fire had burned low while I slept, and the room was cold enough that I could see my own breath hanging in the air. My back ached from pressing again
Serena's POV The nobles smiled at me whenever I walked through the halls of the ice Castle, and that was how I knew they wanted me dead, because I had learned to read smiles a long time ago, back when I was a child who needed to know whether the person approaching her was going to hurt her or just
Serena's POV Three days passed while I sat in that room with the fire burning and the snow falling outside the window, and Alejandro did not come near me, did not send word to me, and did not give any sign that he remembered I existed at all.I counted the hours as the sun rose and set behind the







