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Chapter 31

By morning, the palace had learned to whisper.The servants moved quietly through the corridors, keeping their eyes down and their voices low. Even those who usually enjoyed stopping to gossip seemed afraid to speak for too long. Whenever someone passed, conversations ended quickly, and doors were closed gently behind them.A man had died in a locked cell, and no one could explain how it had happened.The news had spread through the palace before sunrise. Some servants believed the prisoner had been poisoned. Others whispered that someone had entered the cell without the guards knowing. A few refused to discuss it at all. Whatever the truth was, everyone seemed to agree on one thing. The palace was no longer as safe as it had once seemed.Jade sat on the edge of her bed, her hands folded in her lap. She had barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the dead man lying on the dungeon floor and Lucien standing beside him with that strange smile on his face.Two maids s

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-19

Chapter 32

The dead had a way of making the living quiet. By the third bell of morning, the slums had become quieter than Vivian had ever heard them.Rain fell over the narrow lane behind the fruit stalls, thin and cold, soaking the roofs and turning the road into grey mud. Water dripped from broken gutters, and every step Vivian took made a soft sucking sound as her boots sank into the wet ground. A cart rolled past her, its wooden wheels struggling through the mud. A plain wooden box had been strapped to its bed, and one of the wheels squealed every time it turned. A priest hurried behind it with his hood pulled low over his face.There were no bells ringing. No mourners singing. No one crying loudly enough for the whole street to hear.The same people who had shouted for justice over a thief two days ago now stood along the sides of the road with their heads bowed. Some watched the cart pass, while others stared at their feet, afraid to look at the soldiers stationed at every corner.Vivian s

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-19

Chapter 33

The gold doorknob had grown warm beneath Lucien’s palm by the time Marek’s footsteps finally faded down the marble corridor.Outside the tall windows, the last of the rain clouds still clung to the sky, torn and grey. Moonlight broke through them in thin patches, pale and cold against the wet stone of the courtyard below. Water dripped from the window ledges, and the air in the corridor carried the smell of damp wool, old stone, and candles that had recently been put out. Somewhere farther down the hall, a servant was closing a door, the soft sound travelling through the otherwise quiet palace.Lucien had stood in the alcove beside that half-open door the whole time.He had not moved. He had not made a sound. From where he stood, he could hear every word spoken inside the sitting room, every pause, every little change in Jade’s voice.He heard the soft laugh she gave when Marek told his ridiculous story about the inn and its offended cook. He heard her voice grow small and grateful wh

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-21

Chapter 34

Someone had locked Jade in, and someone else had come to let her out, and by dawn she could not decide which of them frightened her more.The night had seemed endless.The key turned in the lock just as the first grey light of morning touched the windows. Jade had not slept. She had spent the long hours sitting on the edge of her bed, listening to every sound beyond her door. Each time footsteps passed in the corridor, she had lifted her head, waiting to hear the key turn again.But the footsteps always moved on.The lamp beside her bed had burned low, leaving a small pool of wax around its base. Her eyes ached from lack of sleep, and her body felt heavy, but she had been too afraid to lie down. She could still feel Lucien's hand against her, remember the way he had held her in place, and hear the threats he had made before leaving her locked inside the room.She had tried to tell herself that he was gone and could no longer hurt her.But the locked door had made it difficult to belie

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-22

Chapter 35

The cathedral bells rang before dawn, and by sunrise, an entire city was ready to believe a lie.Jade stood in front of the mirror while Madame Vosk adjusted the sleeves of her golden gown. The dress was beautiful, with tiny golden threads running through the fabric, but Jade could hardly enjoy it. It was heavy around her waist, and every time she moved, she felt as though she was wearing something that belonged to another person, perhaps she was.Mrs. Farrow stood behind her, carefully arranging the last few strands of her hair. Neither woman had allowed her to complain since they began dressing her that morning. They had corrected the way she stood, the way she held her head, and even the way she breathed.Jade was beginning to think that being a princess required more work than stealing from the royal treasury."Chin,"She lifted it a little higher."Not so far. You are not spoiling for a fight. Today you are not stealing anything, Your Highness. Today you are being given."Jade lo

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-23

Chapter 36

Some doors stayed locked for a reason, and Jade had been told so three times before Mrs. Farrow finally put the key in her hand.The housekeeper stood beside her in the east wing, looking at the old carved door as though she would have preferred to keep it locked. The corridor was quiet, with only the low flames of the torches lighting the walls. Evening light came through the narrow windows, turning the stone a warm honey colour. Somewhere far below, a clock struck seven."Whatever you find in there," Farrow said, her mouth a thin line, "you will wish you hadn't.""I'll risk it.""You always do." The housekeeper's eyes lingered on the iron key, then lifted to Jade's face, tired and sharp and almost sorry. "It is only one of the princess's older chambers, in the east wing. Her childhood study, and the rooms she kept before she moved to the grand suite. We locked it when the things were moved out. I have not set foot inside since.""Then no one will know I was there.""Someone always k

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-25

Chapter 37

There was no lantern tower in the palace gardens, and Kael had checked twice before he decided to ask.He had spent most of the previous evening thinking about the princess's behaviour. Something about her had bothered him since she came to the palace. At first, he had put it down to the changes she had gone through. She had been away from the royal household for some time, and whatever had happened to her might have left its mark. But there were too many small things he could not explain. The way she sometimes watched people before answering them. The way she looked at familiar objects as if she had never seen them before. And now, the room in the east wing.He could not stop thinking about the things he had found there.That morning, he walked a pace behind her along the east gallery, his hands clasped behind his back. His boots made little sound against the stone floor. The princess wore a pale grey dress, its long sleeves gathered neatly at her wrists, and her hair had been arrang

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-26

Chapter 38

The most dangerous secrets in the palace were not the ones people whispered about. They were the ones people were willing to kill to keep hidden. Kael had stumbled upon one of them. Vivian was carrying another into the palace, folded into a small piece of paper. And Jade, who had spent months pretending to be someone else, was about to discover that the past she had left behind had never stopped looking for her. The door opened without a knock, and Kael knew before he turned around that whoever stood behind him had been walking the palace's corridors a great deal longer than he had. "Sit, Captain," Edmund said. "I prefer to stand." "Of course you do." Edmund closed the door behind him with his own hand, crossed the blue room, and settled into the chair by the window. He folded his hands on his knee. In the thin light of the shuttered lantern, his face was grey and mild and unreadable, the face of a man who had spent thirty years learning not to have one. Kael did not take his ha

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-28

Chapter 39

Jade had four seconds to hide Vivian's letter and she spent three of them deciding where.The pillow. She pulled the letter from her chest, folded it once more and pushed it deep inside the pillowcase just as the knock came again. Two sharp raps sounded against the door."Princess." Kael's voice came through the wood. "I'm waiting."Jade smoothed her nightdress, tied her robe around her waist and wiped her face with both palms to remove every trace of her tears. Her eyes still felt swollen but there was nothing she could do about that now. She took a breath, crossed the carpet and drew back the bolt. When she opened the door, she left only enough space for herself to stand in the gap.Kael stood in the corridor with one gloved hand resting near his sword. The wall lamp cast his shadow across the stone floor. His gaze moved over her face, pausing briefly on her swollen eyes, but his expression remained unchanged."The letter," he said."Which letter?" Jade asked in the princess's cool,

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-29

Chapter 40

Four nights after the attack, Soren was still counting empty bedrolls.The cellar beneath the tannery district smelled of damp stone, old tallow, and the stale remains of fires that had burned out days ago. A single lamp hung from a hook in the ceiling, its weak light barely reaching the far corners. Each time someone moved above them, the floor creaked, and the lamp swayed slightly, sending shadows crawling across the walls.Four straw pallets lay untouched along one side of the cellar. No one had bothered to clear them away. A coat had been folded at the end of one, its sleeves tucked neatly beneath it, as though its owner might return at any moment and ask for it.But he would not, Soren stood behind a table made from old crates, both palms pressed against the rough wood. He had not changed his shirt since the night of the attack. The blood on his cuff had dried to a dark brown, and the fabric had stiffened around it. He had tried washing his hands earlier, but the smell of blood s

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-10-30

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