The first thing I felt was cold-sharp, biting cold -followed by the unmistakable sound of earth hitting wood.
Thud.
Someone was burying me.
I wanted to scream, to claw my way out, but my body would not move. My lungs burned even though I wasn't breathing. Panic exploded inside my chest just as a memory surfaced, vivid and cruel: my sister's tear-streaked face, the bitter taste of poison in my mouth, and her whispered words-Thank you for dying in my place.
Then everything shattered.
I gasped.
Air rushed into my lungs as my eyes flew open.
I am alive.
The door burst open.
"Your Highness!" a maid cried, falling to her knees. "The Crown has awakened!"
That was when I realized something was terribly wrong.
-or terribly right.
Because I was no longer the woman who had died forgotten.
I was Princess Elowen of Valenreach.
And according to the memories flooding my mind, she was supposed to die today.