Seraphina's POV - Wedding Day, Present
Sister? My voice cracks. What are you doing?
The woman who sheltered me for two years. Who held me when I cried. Who warned me against becoming a monster.
She's working for the man who murdered my family.
Put down the knife, Margarethe, Kael says quietly, sword raised. You don't want to do this.
Don't I? Her smile is nothing like the warm, gentle expression I remember. This smile is cold. Dead. I've been waiting two years for this moment.
Two years. The same amount of time I've been at the convent.
You knew, I breathe. From the beginning. You knew I was there.
Of course, I knew. She steps closer, knife gleaming in the lamplight. Lord Blackwell placed me in that convent specifically to watch you. Make sure you stayed broken. Stayed hidden. Stayed harmless.
The room spins. The whole time? Everything you said
Was exactly what you needed to hear to keep you docile. Her voice is matter-of-fact, like discussing the weather. A grieving girl seeking comfort and guidance. So easy to manipulate.
But you helped me, I say desperately. You taught me to garden, to find peace, to
To stay weak. She laughs. To turn the other cheek. To forgive. All very convenient for Lord Blackwell, wouldn't you say?
My knees almost give out. Kael catches my arm, steadying me.
Why tell her now? he asks. Why reveal yourself?
Because the job's changed. Sister Margarethe no, just Margarethe, she was never really a nun tilts her head. Originally, I was supposed to keep her passive until she died of grief or illness. Natural causes. But then the Emperor decided on this marriage, and Lord Blackwell realized she might actually become dangerous. Can't have that.
So he sent you to kill me, I say numbly.
Eventually. She examines her knife. First, I need the locket.
My hand flies to my throat. Mother's locket, the one Kael gave me with the scratched message about proof.
That's what this is about? Kael demands. A piece of jewelry?
Not the jewelry, you fool. What's inside it. Margarethe's eyes lock on mine. Your mother was cleverer than anyone gave her credit for. She knew something was wrong in the weeks before the siege. She hid proof names, documents, evidence of the conspiracy. Encoded it and put it in that locket.
My mind races. I've opened the locket dozens of times. There's nothing but the paintings of me and Adrian.
Sister Margarethe's betrayal cuts deeper than any physical wound. She was my anchor, my source of comfort, my guide through grief. And all of it was a lie. Every kind word, every gentle touch, every piece of advice all calculated to keep me weak. I trusted her. I loved her. And she was bought from the beginning.
Unless...
The paintings, I whisper. Something's hidden in them?
Margarethe's smile confirms it. Give me the locket, and I'll make your death quick. Refuse, and I'll make you watch while I kill the General first.
You can try. Kael shifts into a fighting stance.
Oh, I won't be doing it alone. Margarethe pulls a small whistle from her robes and blows.
No sound comes out but three men in guard uniforms drop from the ceiling through a hidden panel I didn't even know existed.
We're surrounded.
Kael moves in front of me again, sword ready. Seraphina, when I say run, you run. Don't look back.
I'm not leaving you
You have to. His voice is urgent. That locket is the only proof we have. Get it to someone who can decode it. Expose Blackwell. Finish this.
There's four of them and one of you!
Then I'll make it count. He glances back at me, and for just a second, his expression softens. I couldn't save your family. Let me save you.
Something in my chest cracks.
Before I can respond, Margarethe signals. The guards attack.
Kael moves like lightning blocking, striking, fighting three men at once. He's magnificent. Terrifying. Every inch the legendary general.
But even he can't hold them all off forever.
Margarethe comes for me.
I back up, hands scrambling for anything to use as a weapon. My fingers close around something on the table a letter opener.
Not much, but it's something.
Margarethe lunges. I dodge, barely. Her knife slices through my already torn dress.
Give me the locket! she snarls.
I wonder how much Blackwell paid her. What's the going rate for betraying a grieving girl? For monitoring her every move, reporting her every word? Did Margarethe ever feel guilty? Or was she like Cordelia, proud of her cleverness in deceiving me so completely?
Never!
We circle each other. Behind us, Kael grunts as a sword opens a cut on his arm. He's bleeding but still fighting.
I need to help him. Need to do something.
But I'm not a fighter. I'm a girl who gardens and reads and
Adrian's voice in my memory: Father taught you how to fight, Sera. You just never wanted to use it.
Father. He did teach me. Years ago, before I decided violence was beneath a lady.
Margarethe attacks again.
This time, I don't just dodge.
I remember.
Feet apart. Weight balanced. Watch her eyes, not her weapon.
Her knife comes down.
I move inside her guard, like Father showed me. Grab her wrist. Twist.
The knife clatters to the floor.
Margarethe's eyes widen in shock. You
I punch her as hard as I can.
My knuckles explode in pain but she staggers back, nose bleeding.
I'm not that broken girl anymore, I tell her.
Behind me, Kael shouts in pain. I spin around.
One of the guards has him pinned, sword at his throat.
Stop! Margarethe wipes blood from her face. Everyone stop.
The fighting freezes.
The hidden guards dropping from the ceiling like spiders it's almost comic in its theatrical evil. Blackwell has planned this carefully, thought of everything. Except, perhaps, that I'm no longer the broken girl who entered that convent. I've learned. I've changed. I'm not as easy to kill as he thinks.
New deal, she says. Give me the locket, or I signal and my man slits the General's throat.
I look at Kael. Blood runs down his face from a cut above his eye. He's breathing hard, outnumbered, at her mercy.
He shakes his head slightly. Don't do it.
But how can I let him die?
My hand touches the locket.
Tick tock, Margarethe sings. Five seconds. Four. Three
Wait. I unclasp the chain. The locket pools in my palm, warm from my skin. Let him go first.
Do I look stupid? Locket first.
We're at a standstill.
Then Kael does something insane.
He slams his head backward into the guard's face, breaking free for just a second.
SERAPHINA, RUN!
He grabs one of the other guards and throws him at Margarethe.
I don't think. I just react.
I run for the door, clutching the locket.
Behind me chaos. Fighting. Kael buying me escape with his blood.
I burst through the hidden door into the corridor.
And run straight into Lord Blackwell himself.
He's not alone. Twenty armed men stand behind him.
He smiles, slow and cruel.
Hello, my dear. Going somewhere?