Seraphina's POV
The orchestra music stops.
I freeze mid-step, champagne glass halfway to my lips. Musicians never stop playing during the Royal Engagement Ball. My chest tightens.
Julian stands at the center of the ballroom with his hand raised. My fiancé looks different tonight jaw hard, eyes cold. Where's his usual warm smile?
Ladies and gentlemen, I have an important announcement.
Maybe he'll declare our wedding date early? I smooth my blue gown and wait.
But when Julian looks at me, there's only hate.
Lady Seraphina Ashford has been unfaithful to me.
The words slam into me. The ballroom erupts in gasps. Three hundred nobles stare at me. My champagne glass slips from my hand and shatters.
What? I whisper. Julian
He pulls letters from his jacket. Even from here, I see the handwriting. It looks exactly like mine.
No.
These are love letters Lady Seraphina wrote to a palace guard, Julian announces. She's been sneaking around for months.
That's a lie! I scream. I never wrote those letters!
A palace guard steps forward. I've never seen him before.
It's true, he says. Lady Seraphina and I have been lovers for four months.
LIAR! I lunge forward but Father grabs my arm hard.
Stop making a scene, Father hisses. You're embarrassing the family.
Father, you believe this? Tears blur my vision.
The evidence is right there. Your handwriting.
I look desperately around the ballroom for help. Then I see Violet near the windows, wearing pink and looking innocent. When our eyes meet, I see it the tiniest smile. A flash of triumph.
My blood freezes.
Violet did this. But why?
Lady Seraphina. The Queen stands from her throne. What do you say?
I fall to my knees. Your Majesty, I swear I never wrote those letters. Someone is setting me up
Always the victim, Julian laughs. I've seen you sneaking out at night with messy hair. You thought I didn't notice?
I was visiting the library! I cry.
Or meeting your lover? He leans close.
I see it in his eyes then. He wants this to be true. He wants an excuse to leave me.
My eyes dart to the crowd. That's when I see her Lady Helena in a red dress, watching Julian with desperate longing.
Julian loves Helena. This whole thing is fake. He wanted out, and Violet helped create this lie.
I look at Crown Prince Alexander on the royal platform. If anyone can stop this, it's him.
Our eyes meet. I silently beg him to help.
Alexander takes one step forward.
Hope explodes in my chest!
But King Leopold grabs his son's arm and whispers something. Alexander's face goes pale.
Alexander? I whisper.
The Crown Prince looks at me. His eyes hold pain and guilt.
Then he looks away.
My hope dies.
Seraphina Ashford, the Queen says. You are declared morally unfit for noble society. Your engagement is dissolved
I disown her.
I slowly turn.
Father stands tall. I disown Seraphina Ashford. She is no longer my daughter.
My stepmother smiles. Violet hides her smirk.
Father, please
Don't call me that. I have no daughter who would behave like this.
Guards march toward me, boots echoing like drums.
Wait! I scramble backward. Someone forged those letters! Just give me time
Strong hands grab my arms. The guards drag me toward the doors. I twist and fight.
Julian! I scream. You know I love you! Why are you doing this?
For a second, guilt flashes across his face.
Then Helena steps out and touches his hand. Everyone sees it.
The crowd gasps. Julian and Helena? They've been having an affair?
But it doesn't matter. The guards drag me through the doors. My gown tears on the stone.
Where are you taking me?
To the convent, one mutters. Queen's orders. You'll spend your life there.
My whole life. For a crime I didn't commit.
As they drag me down the hallway, the orchestra starts playing again. The party continues. Like I never existed.
My last thought: I will survive this. I will find out who did this. And I will make them pay.
Even if it takes a lifetime.
The carriage door slams shut. Through the window, I see the palace shrinking. But I also see something else a figure in a high tower window.
Crown Prince Alexander.
His hand is pressed against the glass. Like he's trying to reach me. Like he regrets his silence.
The carriage turns a corner.
And everything I was disappears with it.
But in my chest, something new is born.
Rage.
Cold, burning, patient rage.
They think they destroyed me.
They have no idea what they created.