Cassian's POV
The servants finally left him alone.
Cassian stood in the massive bedchamber and stared at his reflection in the mirror. The silk nightgown clung to his body in ways that made him feel completely exposed. His hair was loose and long. His face was still painted with makeup. And staring back at him was his sister's face.
Exactly his sister's face.
For a moment, Cassian forgot which one was real. The person in the mirror looked so completely like Seraphina that he could almost believe she was in the room with him. Could almost believe his sister was standing behind the glass, watching him, waiting to see what he would do next.
He reached out and touched the mirror.
The reflection reached back.
Cassian's hands were still shaking. They hadn't stopped shaking since his father left him in Seraphina's empty chambers hours ago. His whole body felt like it was vibrating at a frequency that only dogs could hear.
The door on the far side of the chamber opened.
Damian entered.
He was dressed in sleeping clothes now. Dark pants and nothing else. His chest was bare and impossibly broad. His hair was damp like he'd just bathed. The crown prince looked dangerous in a completely different way than he had at the altar. Less formal. Less controlled. More real.
He locked the door behind him.
The click of that lock sounded like a prison door closing.
Cassian's heart started racing so fast he thought it would explode. This was it. This was the moment he'd been dreading since his father first told him what he had to do. The wedding night. The consummation. The moment when his deception would become impossible to maintain.
He turned to face Damian and opened his mouth to speak. To make excuses. To say something about being tired or not feeling well or anything that might delay what was coming next.
"You're not her."
Cassian's voice died in his throat.
Damian stood very still. His expression was absolutely unreadable. But his eyes were sharp. Too sharp. Like he was looking through Cassian's skin and seeing the bones underneath.
"I don't—" Cassian started.
"Your scent is wrong," Damian interrupted. He took a step forward. Then another. His bare feet were silent on the stone floor. "It's Alpha. Not Beta. But weak. Barely there. Like someone tried to hide it with perfume."
Cassian's blood turned to ice.
He wanted to run. Wanted to bolt for the door or the window or anywhere that wasn't this room with this man who somehow already knew. But his legs wouldn't work. Fear had frozen him completely.
Damian kept moving closer. One step at a time. Slow and deliberate. Like a hunter approaching prey. When he was only a few feet away, he stopped.
"Who are you really?"
The question hung in the air between them.
Cassian's mind raced through possibilities. He could lie. Could deny everything. Could insist he was Seraphina and claim the crown prince was confused or crazy or playing some kind of sick game. But looking into Damian's eyes, Cassian understood that lying would be pointless.
Damian already knew.
Somehow, impossibly, the crown prince already knew that something was wrong.
"I don't know what you mean," Cassian said anyway. His voice came out small and weak. Seraphina's voice. The voice he'd been practicing for days. But underneath it was something else. Something that sounded like panic.
"Stop," Damian said. His tone wasn't angry. It was almost gentle. Almost understanding. "Stop pretending. I know you're not the princess. I've known since you stepped out of that carriage."
Cassian's chest was heaving now. He couldn't breathe properly. The silk nightgown suddenly felt like it was suffocating him.
"Your movements are wrong," Damian continued. He moved even closer. Close enough now that Cassian had to tilt his head back to look at him. "A princess moves like she was born to be watched. You move like you're remembering choreography. Every step is calculated. Every gesture is practiced."
"Please," Cassian whispered. "Please don't tell anyone. I can explain—"
"Can you?" Damian's voice dropped lower. His eyes were searching Cassian's face like he was trying to read something written there. "Explain why you're impersonating a princess. Explain where the real Seraphina actually is. Explain what game Frost Ridge is playing with my kingdom."
"It's not a game," Cassian said desperately. The words tumbled out before he could stop them. "She disappeared. Three days before the wedding. Just vanished. My father forced me to take her place. He said if I didn't, he'd declare war and blame her for betraying him. He said thousands of soldiers would die because of her."
Damian's expression shifted. Something flickered in those dark eyes. Not disgust. Not anger. Something more complicated.
"Your father forced you?" Damian asked.
Cassian nodded miserably. His hands were shaking so badly he had to cross his arms over his chest to hide it.
"And you agreed," Damian continued. It wasn't a question.
"I didn't have a choice," Cassian whispered. "He was going to destroy her memory. Burn her name. Make sure everyone thought she was a traitor. I had to protect her. Even if she's... even if she's gone, I had to protect her."
For a long moment, Damian didn't say anything. He just stood there, staring at Cassian. And in that stare was something that looked like understanding. Like recognition.
Like he was looking at someone as trapped as himself.
Then Damian reached into the pocket of his sleeping pants and pulled out a small glass bottle.
Cassian's breath stopped.
It was suppressants. Heat suppressants. The kind that only Omegas used.
"What—" Cassian started.
"I'm Omega," Damian said quietly. "Not Alpha. Not the Alpha crown prince everyone thinks I am. I've been hiding since birth. Taking these since I was a child. Playing a role. Just like you."
Cassian stared at the bottle. Stared at Damian's face. Stared at the crown prince who was supposed to be the most powerful Alpha in two kingdoms and who had just admitted to being the exact opposite.
"You're lying," Cassian breathed. But he could smell it now. Underneath the Alpha facade that Damian wore like armor, there was something else. Something that smelled like an Omega trying to hide. Something that smelled like survival.
"No," Damian said simply. He put the bottle back in his pocket. "I'm not lying. I'm the only other person in this entire palace who understands what it's like to pretend to be something you're not. To carry a secret that could get you executed. To wake up every morning wondering if today is the day everything falls apart."
He stepped back, giving Cassian space to breathe.
"So we have a problem," Damian continued. His voice was steady now. In control. "We're married. The treaty depends on this marriage. The kingdoms are depending on this marriage. And we're both frauds."
Cassian's mind couldn't catch up to what was happening. One moment he'd been terrified that Damian was going to expose him. The next moment the crown prince was confessing his own massive secret.
"What do you want?" Cassian asked.
Damian walked over to his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment. He began writing something with quick, precise strokes. After several minutes, he set down the pen and looked at Cassian.
"I want to make a deal," Damian said.
He held out the parchment.
Cassian stepped forward on shaking legs and took it. His hands trembled as he read the words written there. Five rules. Five simple rules that would bind them together in a conspiracy of lies.
Rule One: They maintain the public facade. Cassian continues pretending to be Seraphina. Damian continues pretending to be Alpha.
Rule Two: They keep each other's secrets. Mutual blackmail ensures mutual protection.
Rule Three: No physical intimacy beyond what's required for appearances.
Rule Four: They search for Seraphina together.
Rule Five: Either can leave after thirty days notice.
It was cold. Clinical. Completely reasonable. It was also the loneliest thing Cassian had ever read.
"Do you agree?" Damian asked.
Cassian looked up from the paper. Looked at this man who could destroy him with a single word. This man who was offering him protection instead. This man who understood what it meant to be a fraud because he was one too.
"If I don't?" Cassian asked.
"Then I expose you at dawn," Damian said. His voice didn't change. "Your father's deception becomes public knowledge. The treaty falls apart. War happens. Thousands die. And you get executed for treason."
He paused.
"But if you sign, we survive. We protect each other. We figure out what happened to your sister. And we both live to see another day."
Cassian looked down at the contract in his hands. Looked at the five rules that would define his existence from this moment forward.
Then he picked up the pen.
And signed his name.