Chapter 1

The Royal Press Office was broadcasting Vivienne Laurent's investiture to the nation when I entered Valerian Palace through an old service tunnel.

I had seen enough from the edge of the courtyard. Vivienne wore Celeste's crown beside King Adrien. My parents sat among the senior nobles, smiling as though their real daughter were being honored.

I did not interrupt the ceremony. A stolen crown could wait. Celeste could not.

The pain linking us had returned three days earlier after years of silence. It grew stronger inside the palace, proof that she had not escaped safely. If I revealed myself before finding her, whoever held her could kill her or move her beyond my reach.

The bond had always transmitted only severe distress, never ordinary discomfort. As children, I had felt the shock when Celeste broke her wrist even from another city. The drug used in my false death had muted that connection. Its sudden return meant two things. The drug was finally leaving my body, and whatever Celeste was enduring had crossed an extreme threshold.

I entered Mooncrest House, Celeste's former residence, through the wine cellar. The thermal stone I had installed for her had been ripped from the floors. The twenty pear trees I planted before her wedding had been cut to stumps. The brass plaque bearing the house's name lay in the mud.

A young household assistant was scraping her shoes across it.

She looked up, froze, then sneered. "Celeste. You dared to leave the North Wing?"

She had mistaken me for Celeste. Correcting her would alert the people holding my sister, so I said nothing.

Then I saw the pale jade bracelet on her wrist. I had given it to Celeste on her eighteenth birthday. She had rarely worn it because she feared chipping the stone.

"Where did you get that?"

The assistant lifted her wrist. "Queen Vivienne gave it to me. Your jewels and gowns became hers after you were confined. This was one of the pieces she considered worthless."

"Take it off."

She laughed and shoved my shoulder. "You are not queen anymore. Crawl back to the North Wing before His Majesty sees you. Last month you received thirty lashes for insulting Queen Vivienne. The next punishment will be worse."

A burning sensation flared through my right arm, the same pain that had awakened me three nights ago. The restored bond was not showing me an old injury. Celeste was being hurt now.

I kept my expression still. "Why was I confined?"

"Do not pretend you forgot. You pushed Queen Vivienne down the palace steps and killed her unborn child. His Majesty was merciful not to imprison you for murdering a royal heir."

That was the official story. No trial had tested it. No independent doctor had confirmed the pregnancy. Celeste had been condemned because the palace found accusation more convenient than evidence.

“Where were you ordered to take the former queen?”

The assistant's eyes shifted. “She is still in the North Wing.”

The security leader drew his pistol. I redirected his arm as he fired, sending the bullet into a wall lamp, then removed the magazine and took his access card. The other officers raised their weapons but hesitated with their commander still within my reach.

I swiped his card across the courtyard terminal. The North Wing showed no active isolation order. Its camera footage had been erased, and the last recorded transfer had taken place three days earlier. The destination was restricted.

I turned the screen toward him. “If I am still under medical isolation, why do your own records say otherwise?”

His expression tightened. “The system must be outdated.”

“The cameras were disabled at the same time?”

He said nothing.

The assistant finally broke. “She attacked the guards and escaped. His Majesty ordered us to suppress it until the investiture was over.”

Three days ago, Celeste had supposedly escaped. Three days ago, our bond had returned. She had never left the palace. Someone had moved her somewhere beyond the reach of ordinary security records.

The pain in my arm sharpened.

I pressed the empty pistol against the security leader's badge. "Tell me where the woman you removed from the North Wing was taken."