The crown should have been hers.
Lady Seraphina stood in the center of the Great Hall, her ivory silk dress flowing around. Golden chandeliers hung above, casting warm light across five hundred nobles who had come to witness history. The marble floors shined. Fresh roses decorated every pillar, filling the air with sweet perfume.
Today was supposed to be the most important day of her life. Today, Crown Prince Kael would officially announce their engagement. Today, she would become the future queen of Elaris.
She had been preparing for this moment since she was twelve years old. Learning to walk like a queen, talk like a queen, smile like a queen. Her tutors had drilled her on politics, languages, and royal protocol until she knew them by heart.
Everything had led to this moment.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Prince Kael's voice rang out across the silent hall. He stood on the royal platform in his ceremonial blue uniform, looking every inch the perfect prince with his golden hair and strong jaw.
Seraphina's heart hammered against her ribs. Her palms were sweating inside her white gloves. This was it. Her fairy tale was about to begin.
"I have an important announcement to make regarding my future bride."
The crowd leaned forward. Seraphina held her breath.
"I am hereby ending my engagement to Lady Seraphina of House Elowen."
The words didn't make sense. They couldn't make sense.
"Instead," Kael continued, his voice steady and clear, "I will marry Princess Amaris of Aetheria, who will be our future queen and help unite our kingdoms."
The hall exploded.
Gasps echoed off the marble walls. Shocked voices rose like a wave. Ladies covered their mouths with their fans. Men whispered furiously to each other.
But all Seraphina could hear was the sound of her own heart breaking.
This had to be a nightmare. She would wake up any moment in her bed, laughing about this terrible dream.
"Your Highness," she managed to say, though her voice sounded strange and far away, "surely there's been some mistake—"
"No mistake." Prince Kael finally looked at her, and his blue eyes held no warmth at all. They looked at her like she was nothing. Less than nothing.
"You were never worthy of the crown, Seraphina. Anyone with eyes can see that. A future queen needs strength, intelligence, and royal blood that matters. You have none of those things."
His words cut deeper than any sword.
Laughter rippled through the crowd. Actual laughter. These people, nobles she had dined with, danced with, called friends—were laughing at her humiliation.
"I always wondered why he chose her," someone whispered loud enough for her to hear.
"She's pretty enough, but hardly queen material."
"Her family has money but no real power."
"Princess Amaris is much better suited. She's actually royal."
Each word was like a knife to her chest.
Seraphina looked toward her parents in the crowd. Her mother had gone pale as snow and was swaying on her feet. Then she fainted completely, crumbling to the floor in her emerald gown.
Her father caught her mother, but his eyes met Seraphina's across the hall. The look on his face said everything: he was ashamed. Of her, this moment and verything.
He wouldn't help her. He couldn't help her. Their family's position was too weak, and the crown prince's word was law.
She was completely alone.
The crowd began to move, nobles filing toward the doors while throwing glances back at her like she was some fascinating disaster they couldn't look away from.
"How mortifying."
"I'd die of shame."
"What will she do now?"
"Her reputation is ruined."
Their whispers followed her like poison.
Seraphina stood frozen in the center of the emptying hall, still wearing her engagement dress that now felt like a costume from a play that had ended too soon. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream. She wanted to disappear forever.
But she refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her break.
So she lifted her chin high and stood straight, even as her world crumbled around her.
The last of the nobles filtered out, leaving her alone with the servants who began quietly cleaning up the rose petals that had been scattered for a celebration that never happened.
Then a shadow fell across the marble floor in front of her.
"Quite a performance."
Seraphina looked up to see Prince Lucien standing just a few feet away. Kael's younger brother was everything the crown prince wasn't. Where Kael was golden and bright like the sun, Lucien was dark and mysterious like midnight. His black hair fell across his forehead, and his green eyes seemed to see everything.
He was the dangerous prince. The one mothers warned their daughters about. The one who disappeared for months at a time on mysterious missions for the crown. The one people whispered about in dark corners.
"Come to gloat too?" she asked, surprised by how bitter her own voice sounded.
Lucien stepped closer, and she caught the scent of leather and something wild, like pine forests and storm clouds.
"Actually," he said, his voice low and smooth like expensive wine, "I came to offer you something much better than pity."
"And what's that?"
A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face. It wasn't the kind smile of a gentleman. It was the smile of a wolf who had just spotted prey.
"Revenge."