Kael Alarion's last thoughts were of betrayal.
Steel pierced his chest—his own brother's sword, cold and unforgiving. Behind Prince Darius, their mother—no, *stepmother*, Queen Seraphine—watched with a satisfied smile, her hands folded like a saint's, though her heart was made of ice and poison.
"You were never meant to rule," she whispered as Kael collapsed to the throne room floor, blood staining the marble beneath him. "You were never even one of us."
As the world faded, a strange warmth consumed him. The scent of spring flowers, the sound of trumpets, and the feel of silk across his skin all rushed back at once.
And then… darkness.
---
**Chapter 1: The Day Repeated**
Kael gasped and sat up.
Sunlight streamed through familiar velvet curtains. His heartbeat thundered—not with fear, but with disbelief. The room was his old chambers. The scent of lavender and oil hung in the air. His fingers clutched soft linen sheets.
He stumbled to the mirror.
No blood. No wounds. And his face—*young again.*
It was the morning of his installment as Crown Prince.
He fell to his knees, shaking. "I died. Darius killed me. Seraphine watched."
And yet here he was, reborn on the very day it had all started.
But this time… he remembered everything.
He looked toward the door just as a knock came. A soft voice called, "Your Highness, the queen requests your presence in the Sun Hall. She insists."
Kael's blood ran cold.
Queen Seraphine—his father's second wife. She had arrived when Kael was ten, all grace and flattery. But beneath her beauty lay venom. And her son, Darius, Kael's half-brother, had always been her weapon.
Last time, Kael had ignored the signs. Had trusted blindly.
Not this time.