Seraphina's POV
My fingers won't stop shaking.
I press them against the cool marble table, trying to make them steady. The servants don't notice. They're too busy with my hair, my dress, my veil making me perfect for a man I plan to kill.
Hold still, my lady, the head maid says, adjusting the white flowers in my hair.
I force myself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.
Two hours. That's all the time I have left before I become his wife.
General Kael Thorne. The Bloodhound of Astern. The monster who murdered my family.
My eyes find the wedding bouquet sitting on the windowsill. White roses and lilies, beautiful and innocent. No one knows about the tiny glass vial hidden deep inside, tucked between the stems where nobody will ever look. Poison. Just one drop in his wine tonight, and this nightmare ends.
Not today, I whisper to myself. But soon.
What was that, my lady? A servant turns to me with curious eyes.
Nothing. I smile, the same fake smile I've practiced for two weeks. Just thinking how beautiful everything is.
She beams. Oh yes! You'll be the most stunning bride the empire has ever seen!
If only she knew. I'm not a bride. I'm a weapon wrapped in silk.
The servants continue fussing, but I stop seeing them. My mind drifts back always back to that terrible night two years ago.
Fire. Screaming. My mother's voice calling my name.
My little brother Adrian, only sixteen, pushing me toward the secret passage beneath our house. Run, Sera! I'll hold them off!
No! Adrian, come with me!
But he was already turning, sword in his shaking hands, facing the soldiers pouring into our home.
The marble beneath my palms is cold, almost shocking against my heated skin. I can feel every vein in the stone, every tiny imperfection. It grounds me, this small sensation, when everything else feels like I'm floating away from reality.
The last thing I saw was General Thorne himself, standing in the doorway like death in armor, watching as Adrian charged.
I ran. I'm a coward. I ran while my baby brother died fighting.
My chest tightens. I can't breathe. Can't
My lady, you're crying! A servant rushes forward with a cloth. Oh, wedding day tears! How sweet!
I touch my face. Wet. I didn't even realize.
They're happy tears, I lie. Everything is a lie now.
The truth? I haven't cried since the day I crawled out of that hidden passage and saw my home burning. My parents executed in the town square like criminals. Adrian's body in the courtyard, covered in blood.
General Thorne did that. He gave the orders. He watched it happen.
And in two hours, I have to marry him.
The Emperor's command. Marry the General or watch every surviving person from my province die. Hundreds of innocent people children, elderly, families who did nothing wrong all dead unless I smile and say I do to the man who destroyed my world.
So I'll marry him. I'll play the obedient wife.
And then I'll make him pay for every scream, every drop of blood, every nightmare that won't let me sleep.
There! The head maid steps back, admiring her work. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
She turns me toward the full-length mirror.
I barely recognize myself. The woman staring back looks like a princess from a fairy tale. Silver-blonde hair in elegant curls. Violet eyes lined with kohl. The white wedding dress flows like water, covered in tiny pearls that catch the light.
I look beautiful.
I look like a bride in love.
I look like a liar.
I study my reflection more carefully now, trying to see past the costume. My mother's eyes stare back at me that same shade of violet that marked our family for generations. She would have been horrified by this. By me in this dress, walking toward this marriage. Or would she? Did she know this would happen? Did she see it coming in those last terrified weeks?
The ceremony begins in one hour, my lady, the head maid says gently. We should start moving you to the chapel soon.
One hour. My stomach twists.
The servants begin filing out, leaving me alone to prepare myself spiritually as tradition demands. The door closes. Silence fills the room.
I rush to the bouquet and dig my fingers between the roses until I feel it the small glass vial, no bigger than my thumb. I pull it out, holding it up to the light. Clear liquid that looks exactly like water.
But it's not water. It's death.
One drop. That's all it would take.
I imagine it: tonight, after the wedding, when we're alone. He'll drink wine, celebrating his new wife. I'll slip this into his cup. He'll drink. He'll die. And I'll finally have justice for Adrian, for Mother, for Father.
My hand closes around the vial.
I promise, Adrian, I whisper to my dead brother. He won't live long enough to hurt anyone else.
A sharp knock on the door makes me jump. I shove the vial back into the bouquet.
Who is it?
A message, my lady. From General Thorne.
My blood turns to ice. A message? Now?
Slide it under the door.
A cream-colored envelope appears beneath the door. I stare at it like it's a snake.
Finally, I pick it up. Break the seal. Pull out a single piece of paper with harsh, dark handwriting.
Lady Seraphina,
The weight of the veil feels like a crown of thorns. Each pearl, each stitch, each carefully placed fold all of it designed to transform me into something I'm not. A willing bride. A grateful subject. A woman who has forgiven the unforgivable.
I know what you're planning. We need to talk before the ceremony. Come to the east tower. Alone. If you want to know the truth about the night your family died, you'll come.
Time is running out.
The paper slips from my fingers.
He knows.
He knows I'm planning to kill him.
This is a trap. It has to be. He'll arrest me before the wedding. Execute me like he executed my father.
But... what if it's not?
The truth about the night your family died.
What truth? What could he possibly tell me that I don't already know?
I look at the bouquet. At the hidden poison. At the door.
The chapel is west. The east tower is the opposite direction.
I have forty-five minutes until the ceremony begins.
If I go to him, I might die.
If I don't go, I'll never know what he meant.
My hand reaches for the doorknob.
God help me, I'm going to find out.