Sera's POV
Your sister is here.
Tessa's words hit me like a punch to the stomach. I look up from the book I'm reading, my hands suddenly cold.
Vivienne? Here? I stand so fast my chair falls backward. Why?
She says she came to visit you. To see how you're settling in. Tessa's expression tells me she doesn't believe it either. She's in the entrance hall. With guards and servants and enough luggage to stay for weeks.
My heart pounds. Vivienne never cared about me before. This is a trap.
I force myself to walk calmly to the entrance hall, even though every instinct screams to run.
Vivienne stands in the center of the hall, beautiful and perfect as always. When she sees me, her face lights up with a fake smile.
Sister! She rushes forward and hugs me like we're best friends. Oh, I've missed you so much! Father said you weren't writing home, so I just had to come check on you myself.
I have nothing to say to Father, I say coldly, pulling away from her embrace.
Vivienne's smile falters for just a second. Don't be like that. He's just protective. You know how he is.
I know exactly how he is. A murderer who sold me to die.
How long are you staying? I ask, hoping she'll say one day.
As long as you need me! Vivienne links her arm through mine like we're close. We have so much to catch up on.
That night, there's a banquet to welcome my beloved sister. I sit at the high table with Kael on one side and Vivienne on the other. She talks non-stop, her voice sweet as honey and twice as sticky.
My King, you're even more handsome than the stories say. Vivienne leans toward Kael, batting her eyelashes. My poor sister must be so overwhelmed. She's always been shy around powerful men.
I grip my fork so hard I'm surprised it doesn't bend.
Under the table, Kael's hand suddenly covers mine. He squeezes gently. The gesture shocks me he's never done anything like that before.
Your sister is handling things perfectly well, Kael says, his voice cool as ice.
Vivienne's smile tightens. Of course she is. Though I did hear about that terrible incident in the garden. An attack? How frightening! No wonder you've been so jumpy, dear sister.
I'm not jumpy, I say through gritted teeth.
No? Vivienne tilts her head innocently. Father always said you had such a wild imagination. Always making up stories to get attention.
Rage burns in my chest, hot and fierce.
Before I can respond, Lady Morgana appears at our table like a vulture sensing blood.
Lady Vivienne, you simply must tell us what Lady Sera was like as a child! Morgana's eyes gleam with malice. We're all so curious about our Queen's upbringing.
It's a setup. I can see it coming like a storm on the horizon.
Vivienne's eyes light up. Oh, Sera was always... special. Different from the rest of us. She pauses, letting the word different hang in the air like an insult. She couldn't shift into her wolf form like normal children. Father tried everything to help her, but nothing worked. Some wolves are just born broken, I suppose.
The word broken echoes through the Great Hall.
People stop eating. Start whispering. Staring at me with pity or disgust or both.
I can't breathe. Can't think. All I can hear is that word, repeated over and over in my head.
Broken. Broken. Broken.
I stand abruptly, my chair scraping loudly against the floor.
Excuse me, I manage to say.
Then I walk out of the hall with my head high, refusing to let them see the tears burning my eyes.
I make it to the gardens before I break.
I collapse onto a stone bench, and the tears finally come. Hot, angry tears that I hate myself for crying. Why do I care what they think? Why does their cruelty still have the power to hurt me?
They're trying to get under your skin.
I look up, startled. Kael stands a few feet away, half-hidden in shadows.
It's working, I admit, wiping my eyes furiously.
Kael walks over and sits beside me. For a moment, we just sit in silence, listening to the night sounds of the garden.
My parents were murdered when I was twelve, Kael says suddenly. Right in front of me. Afterward, the court whispered that I was too young, too weak, too broken to rule. They said I'd fail within a year.
But you didn't, I whisper.
No. I spent six years proving them wrong. Making myself into something they had to fear and respect. He turns to look at me. You're doing the same thing. Learning. Growing stronger. And it terrifies them.
Vivienne isn't afraid of me.
She is. Kael's voice is certain. Why else would she travel all this way just to humiliate you? You threaten everything she wants power, position, respect. She wants to break you before you become unbreakable.
The words sink into me like warmth into frozen ground.
What do I do? I ask.
Stop caring what she thinks. Stop giving her power over you. Kael stands and offers me his hand. Show her who you really are.
And who am I?
Kael pulls me to my feet, and suddenly we're standing very close. His eyes lock onto mine with fierce intensity.
You're Moon Blessed. You're my Queen. And you're stronger than she'll ever be.
For the first time tonight, I feel like I can breathe.
We walk back into the banquet hall together. Everyone stares. Vivienne's face goes pale when she sees us side by side, united.
I meet her gaze across the room and don't look away.
Her smile falters.
Good.
But as the night continues, I notice something strange. Vivienne keeps disappearing to powder her nose, to get some air, to find a servant. Each time, she's gone for ten minutes or more.
When she returns from her third disappearance, I see something that makes my blood run cold.
A tiny speck of blood on her sleeve. Fresh blood.
And when she sits down, I catch a familiar scent clinging to her.
Wolfs bane.
The same poison that was in those assassins' weapons.
I lean close to her, my voice deadly quiet. What are you really doing here, Vivienne?
She smiles sweetly. I told you. Visiting my dear sister.
Liar.
Her smile widens. Prove it.
That night, I follow her.
She slips out of her guest chambers at midnight, moving through the Keep like she knows exactly where she's going.
I trail behind, silent as a shadow.
She stops at a door I recognize the entrance to the dungeons.
But Duke Ravon fled days ago. The dungeons should be empty except for minor criminals.
Vivienne knocks three times. The door opens.
And Duke Ravon steps out.
My heart stops.
He never left at all. He's been hiding right here, in the Keep, the whole time.
Did you bring it? Ravon asks.
Vivienne holds up a vial of dark liquid. Enough to kill them all. The entire Keep if needed.
Good. We poison the water supply tomorrow night during the celebration. When they're all dying, we blame the Moon Blessed witch. Ravon's smile is vicious. The King will have no choice but to execute her himself. And once she's dead, the curse breaks, and he's ours to control.
They know about the curse.
They've been planning this from the beginning.
And tomorrow night, they're going to murder everyone in the Keep and make sure I take the blame.