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Chapter 14
publish date:
2026-09-20 01:04:02
Latest chapter
USURPED Chapter 15
Somewhere between the third fitting and the hundredth curtsy, Jade had stopped noticing she was pretending. By the second month, she didn’t even think about the way she walked anymore. She crossed the room with her shoulders back and chin up without even noticing it. Vosk sat nearby with her tea and didn’t correct her. That bothered Jade more than any mistake.She stopped by the window and looked at herself in the glass. A small smile was already on her face, she hadn’t even tried to smile. It just came naturally, it was the same smile Vosk had made her practise during her first week. Jade touched her mouth and frowned. When had she started doing that without thinking?“You’re staring,” Vosk said.“I’m thinking.”Jade turned away from the window. She didn’t want to think about it anymore.That evening, Jade sat alone in her room. The fire was almost out. She went over everything in her head.The note, three torn words. No name nor seal. Someone wanted to warn her. Or maybe they wante
USURPED Chapter 14
Three words. That was all she had."He isn’t who—"Jade had read them so many times that they had stopped looking like words. Just shapes on paper. Ink so deep that glinted under lamp shade. Something she kept picking at because not knowing hurt worse than whatever the sentence might have said.She kept the note hidden in her sleeve all the way back to her chambers. It pressed against her wrist, and yet somehow she could feel it there with every step.The moment her door closed, she took it out immediately.She turned the scrap over, then back again, as if the missing part might somehow be there if she looked hard enough.Nothing.It had no seal nor name. The handwriting was unfamiliar and scattered in way that felt rushed. The last word had been torn off halfway through the letter. Deliberately, she thought. It didn’t look like it had happened by accident.Whoever had written it had either stopped themselves or been stopped."He isn’t who he says he is.""He isn’t who you think.""He
USURPED Chapter 13
Some mornings felt wrong before anyone even spoke.Jade felt it the moment she woke. The palace was too quiet, like everyone was holding their breath, she didn’t know why. She sat by the window with Marigold’s head on her knee and thought, this day is going to be bad.She was right.*Aaron came early. No letter this time. Just that tight look on his face as always, like a man who preferred giving bad news before anyone had a chance to eat.“Your Majesty.” He bowed once. “The southern court has sent word. They no longer wish to wait. They want the announcement made within the fortnight.”Adrian’s jaw tightened at once.“A fortnight,” he said, like he was testing the word.“They’re growing suspicious of the delay. If we push it any further, they’ll start asking questions we can’t afford to answer.”Adrian was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was flat.“Then we tell her today.”*Farrow’s knock broke the quiet of Jade’s morning.“His Majesty requests your presenc
USURPED Chapter 12
The letter still sat on Adrian’s desk the next morning. No one had opened it except Aaron. The dark wax seal kept catching the light that the sun gave every time Adrian’s eyes went to it and then looked away again. Like something he didn’t quite want to touch.He still hadn’t decided what to do with it. He told himself it was strategy. Not fear. He didn’t look too hard at the difference.*The dogs found Jade before she found them this time. She wandered through the gardens late afternoon, her usual way of avoiding Vosks lessons.Biscuit came running across the lawn the second she stepped through the garden gate. Marigold followed slower behind him.“You two are getting spoiled,” Jade said, crouching down so Biscuit wouldn’t knock her over.The little dog wriggled against her, tail going in circles instead of a normal wag. Jade laughed, a real laugh this time that went loud. The kind Vosk had spent a whole week trying to train out of her. There was no one here to perform for. Just
USURPED Chapter 11
The footsteps outside the door turned out to belong to nothing more sinister than Farrow, arms full of freshly pressed gowns. She paused only to give Jade a look that said she already knew what kind of morning it had been.“You’re pale,” Farrow said, setting the gowns down on the bed. “I’m fine.”“Mm.” Farrow didn’t push, which somehow felt worse than if she had. “Eat something. You’ve a full afternoon ahead.”Jade let the moment pass without explaining. She was grateful, for once, that Farrow’s silences knew when to stay quiet.*The kennels sat at the edge of the eastern garden, low stone buildings half-hidden behind a hedge. Jade found them mostly by following the sound of barking. A groundskeeper nodded to her as she approached and kept walking, already back to his work.Two dogs came bounding the moment they saw her — one small and golden, one larger with grey at the muzzle. Both of them wriggling with pure joy that had nothing to do with who she really was.“Biscuit,” Jade said,
USURPED Chapter 10
The music room found her by accident, the way most interesting things in this palace seemed to.Jade wandered after breakfast with no particular destination. She was restless and tired of being watched and told what to do. Even Vosk’s lessons hadn’t managed to tire her out. She pushed open a door simply because it was unlocked, hoping no one would come looking for her.Inside, morning light fell in long gold bars across the polished wood. A pianoforte sat in one corner, its lid closed. A cello leaned against the wall as if it were resting. Sheet music was stacked on a low table, yellowed at the edges. She had never been in a room built for nothing but sounds.For the first time that morning, Jade felt a little calmer.Her fingers found the pianoforte first. She hovered over the keys, too afraid to press them. She didn’t want to make some awful noise in a room meant for people who actually knew what they were doing.She moved on instead, running her hand along the cello’s curved wood an
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