Cassandra's POV
"Let my brother go," I said, my voice deadly calm despite the terror flooding through me. "Now."
Lord Viktor smiled, pressing the knife closer to Thomas's throat. My ten-year-old brother whimpered.
"I don't think you're in a position to make demands, Lady Cassandra." Viktor's eyes were cold and calculating. "Now, sit down. We're going to have a civilized conversation."
Prince Elias stepped forward. "Viktor, this isn't—"
"Quiet, boy." Viktor didn't even look at him. "Your stepmother doesn't know you're here, does she? Running to warn the very brother you've been poisoning? She'd have your head for that betrayal."
Elias went pale.
I forced myself to breathe slowly. Think. In the three years since my father's execution, I'd learned to survive by staying calm when everything fell apart.
"What do you want?" I asked, sitting down slowly in the chair across from Thomas.
"Information. Cooperation. Loyalty." Viktor finally looked at me properly. "I've been watching you, Lady Cassandra. You're smart. Resourceful. And you hate Queen Seraphine almost as much as I do."
Wait. What?
"You... hate the Queen?" I asked carefully.
"Hate is a mild word for what I feel." Viktor's expression darkened. "Fifteen years ago, I had a wife and daughter. Beautiful girls, both of them. My daughter was friends with Prince Marcus—they played together in the palace gardens."
He paused, his knife hand shaking slightly.
"When Marcus was murdered, my daughter saw it happen. She saw the 'hunting accident' that wasn't an accident. She saw the Queen's personal guard push him off that cliff." Viktor's voice cracked. "Seraphine found out my daughter witnessed it. So she poisoned both my girls. Made it look like a fever. They died in my arms, screaming in pain."
Horror washed over me. "I'm so sorry—"
"I don't want your pity." Viktor's eyes burned with rage. "I want revenge. For fifteen years, I've been pretending to be her loyal noble, gathering evidence, building power, waiting for the right moment to destroy her." He looked at me intensely. "And then you appeared. The traitor's daughter with nothing left to lose. Teaming up with the 'useless prince' who suddenly isn't so useless anymore."
"You've been spying on us," I said.
"Of course I have. I spy on everyone." He finally removed the knife from Thomas's throat. My brother gasped in relief. "I know you met Prince Adrian this morning. I know about your alliance. And I know Seraphine is sending assassins to kill him at midnight."
"Then help us!" I stood up. "If you want revenge too—"
"I am helping. Why do you think I grabbed your brother?" Viktor cut the ropes binding Thomas. My brother immediately ran to me, and I pulled him close. "I needed to get your attention. Needed you to listen. Because what I'm about to tell you will sound insane, but it's your only chance to save Prince Adrian."
"Tell me," I demanded.
Viktor walked to my window and pointed toward the palace in the distance. "See that tower? The North Tower? That's where Adrian will be at midnight—he sent you a message about meeting there. But it's a trap."
My blood ran cold. "What?"
"One of Seraphine's spies intercepted your meeting plan. She's setting up the ambush there, not in his chambers. Five assassins. All exits sealed. The moment Adrian arrives, they'll kill him."
"How do you know this?"
"Because I'm the one who told Seraphine about your meeting." Viktor's expression was grim. "I had to. She was getting suspicious of my loyalty. So I gave her something—information about Adrian's midnight meeting. But I made sure the information included a detail only I would know."
"What detail?"
"The secret passage behind the library bookshelf. The one that leads directly to the Queen's private chambers." Viktor's smile was sharp. "When the assassins are busy in the North Tower waiting for Adrian, you and I will use that passage to break into Seraphine's rooms and steal your father's journal—the one that proves she's a murderer."
I stared at him. "You're insane. That's the most dangerous place in the entire palace."
"Exactly. Which is why she'll never expect it." Viktor pulled out a small vial filled with clear liquid. "This is a sleeping poison. Odorless, tasteless, fast-acting. I've already bribed three of her guards to drink wine laced with this tonight. They'll be unconscious by midnight. We'll have a twenty-minute window."
"What about Adrian?" Elias asked desperately. "He'll walk into a trap!"
"No, he won't. Because you're going to warn him." Viktor tossed Elias a small pendant. "This is a royal seal—your seal. Send a trusted servant to Adrian with this. He'll know the message is real. Tell him to stay in his chambers tonight. Lock the doors. Pretend to be asleep. The assassins will go to the North Tower, find it empty, and have to regroup. That buys us time."
"And what if Adrian doesn't listen?" I asked.
"Then pray he's as smart as you think he is." Viktor headed for the door. "We leave in one hour. Wear dark clothes. Bring your knives. And leave the boy here—this is too dangerous for children."
"I'm not leaving Thomas alone," I said firmly.
Viktor sighed. "Fine. There's a safe house three streets over. A woman named Marissa runs it—she helps people escape bad situations. I'll have someone take him there. He'll be safe."
He left before I could argue.
The moment the door closed, I turned to Elias. "Why should I trust anything Viktor says? How do I know this isn't a trap?"
"Because he's telling the truth about his family." Elias's voice was quiet. "I was eight when his daughter died. I remember seeing him at the funeral. He looked... destroyed. And I remember my stepmother smiling that day. I didn't understand why then. Now I do."
Thomas tugged on my sleeve. "Cass, I'm scared."
I hugged him tightly. "I know, Tommy. I know. But I need you to be brave, okay? I need you to go with Viktor's people to the safe house. Just for tonight."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to get the proof we need. The proof that will clear Father's name and let us finally have a normal life."
"Promise you'll come back?"
I wanted to promise. But I'd learned not to make promises I might not keep.
"I'll try my hardest," I said instead. "And if something happens to me, there's a box hidden under the floorboard in my room. It has money and letters. Go to Aunt Helena in the countryside. She'll take care of you."
"Cassandra—"
"Just in case," I interrupted. "Just in case."
Thirty minutes later, a woman arrived to take Thomas to the safe house. He cried when he left, but he went.
Elias and I prepared quickly. He wrote a message to Adrian using his royal seal, then sent it with a servant he swore was trustworthy.
I changed into dark pants and a shirt—easier to move in than a dress. Strapped knives to my belt, my boots, my sleeves. If this went wrong, I'd go down fighting.
Viktor returned exactly one hour later, dressed in black like a shadow.
"Ready?" he asked.
"No," I admitted. "But let's do this anyway."
We left through the smuggler's passage Lyanna had shown me earlier. Viktor seemed to know it well—he moved through the tunnels like he'd walked them a thousand times.
"How long have you been planning this?" I asked as we climbed toward the palace.
"Fifteen years. Every single day." His voice echoed in the darkness. "I've memorized guard rotations. Bribed servants. Collected secrets. All waiting for the right moment."
"Why didn't you act before?"
"Because Seraphine is too well protected. Too many loyal followers. Too much power." He glanced back at me. "But now she's distracted. The Succession Trials have her focused on eliminating Adrian and ensuring Damian wins. Her attention is divided. That's when people make mistakes."
We emerged in a storage room in the palace's lower levels. Viktor checked his pocket watch.
"Eleven-thirty. We have thirty minutes to get into position." He handed me a mask. "Put this on. If anyone sees us, they can't identify us."
We moved through the palace like ghosts, using servant passages and hidden corridors. My heart pounded so hard I thought everyone could hear it.
Finally, we reached the North Tower library. Empty. Silent.
Viktor went straight to a specific bookshelf and pressed something. A section of the wall slid open, revealing a narrow passage.
"This leads to Seraphine's chambers," he whispered. "Stay close. Stay quiet. If something goes wrong, run. Don't try to be a hero."
We entered the passage. It was barely wide enough for one person. Dark. Suffocating.
We walked for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. Then Viktor stopped at another hidden door.
He pressed his ear against it. Listened. Then slowly, carefully, pushed it open.
We were in Queen Seraphine's private sitting room.
It was empty. The guards Viktor had poisoned were slumped in chairs, unconscious. Everything went according to plan.
"The journal is in her bedroom," Viktor whispered. "Behind a painting of her family. There's a safe. The combination is 7-3-9-2."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I watched her open it once. Fifteen years of patience pays off." He gestured toward the bedroom door. "Go. I'll keep watch."
I crept into Seraphine's bedroom, my heart in my throat. This was the most dangerous woman in the kingdom's most private space. If she came back...
I found the painting. Moved it aside. Found the safe.
7-3-9-2.
The safe opened.
Inside were documents, jewelry, and—there. A leather journal with my father's handwriting on the cover.
I grabbed it, along with several other documents that looked important. Stuffed them in my bag.
That's when I heard voices in the corridor outside.
"—should check on Her Majesty," a guard was saying. "Make sure she's secure while the assassins handle the prince."
Viktor appeared in the doorway, his face pale. "They're coming. We need to go. Now."
We ran back to the secret passage. But as we entered, I heard the sitting room door open.
"What happened to the guards?" a voice demanded. "Why are they unconscious?"
"Someone's been here," another guard said.
"Search everything! Find them!"
Viktor pulled the passage door shut just as footsteps thundered into the bedroom.
We ran through the darkness, not caring about noise anymore. Behind us, I heard the passage door slam open.
"They're in the passages! Alert the Queen! Intruders in the palace!"
We burst out of the storage room and into the lower corridors. Alarm bells started ringing throughout the palace.
"This way!" Viktor grabbed my arm, pulling me down a side corridor.
We ran. Guards shouted behind us. More bells rang.
Viktor led me through a maze of passages until we reached a door I recognized—the smuggler's exit to the lower city.
We burst through it and into the alley. Kept running.
Behind us, the palace lit up like a beacon. Every guard in the kingdom would be looking for us now.
"Did you get it?" Viktor gasped as we ran.
I clutched my bag. "I got it. The journal and more."
"Then we succeeded." He smiled grimly. "Now we just have to survive long enough to use it."
We ran for three more blocks before Viktor suddenly stopped.
"We need to split up," he said. "They're looking for two people together. Alone, we blend in better."
"Where do we meet?"
"There's an abandoned church in the lower city. St. Marian's. Meet there at dawn. We'll—"
An arrow whistled through the air and hit the wall beside my head.
We both spun around.
On the rooftop behind us stood a figure in black. Even in the darkness, I recognized him.
Prince Damian.
And he was pointing a crossbow directly at my heart.
"Hello, Lady Cassandra," he said with a cold smile. "Going somewhere?"