Sera's POV
I've dreamed about killing Prince Cassian for six months.
In my dreams, I'm always calm. I walk up to him, drive my sword through his worthless heart, and watch him realize too late that I'm not the weak girl he destroyed.
But standing in this throne room, surrounded by armed guards with my sword pointed at the man who ruined my life, I'm not calm at all.
I'm shaking with rage.
"Lady Sera!" King Aldric gasps from his throne. He looks terrible—thin and pale like death is sitting on his shoulder. "What is the meaning of this?"
"The meaning, Your Majesty, is that your sons are playing games while the kingdom burns." I don't take my eyes off Cassian. He's staring at me like he's seeing me for the first time. Good. Let him see what he created. "And I'm here to make sure the right brother loses."
Adrian laughs, but it sounds nervous. "My dear Lady Sera, you're clearly confused. Cassian is the traitor here. He poisoned our father, stole from the treasury—"
"Liar." The word cracks like a whip. I turn to Adrian, and he actually steps back. "I've spent six months learning everything about this palace and everyone in it. You think I was just sitting in my room crying about my broken engagement? I was watching. Listening. Waiting."
I pull a folded paper from my armor and throw it at Adrian's feet. "That's a copy of the treasury records. The REAL ones, not the fake ledger you planted in Cassian's room. Every stolen coin traces back to you."
Adrian's face goes red. "How did you—"
"I also have letters from your secret lover—a woman named Vivienne who works in the treasury. She's very chatty when she drinks. Told me all about how you've been stealing for two years." I smile, and it's not a nice smile. "Oh, and I have testimony from three different servants who saw you sneaking into the King's chambers at night. Funny how His Majesty got sicker after each visit."
The throne room erupts. Nobles who were watching our drama like entertainment suddenly realize this is real. The King is being poisoned. The kingdom is being robbed. And the perfect Prince Adrian is behind it all.
But Adrian isn't done. He's cornered now, desperate, and desperate men are dangerous.
"Guards!" Adrian screams. "She's lying! She's working with Cassian! They planned this together to frame me and steal the throne!"
The twenty guards hesitate. Half of them look at Adrian like they believe him. The other half look confused. One guard—an older man with gray in his beard—steps forward.
"Prince Adrian," the guard says slowly, "Lady Sera brought serious evidence. Shouldn't we investigate before—"
Adrian's sword moves so fast I almost miss it. The blade goes through the guard's throat. Blood sprays across the marble floor, and the guard collapses, choking.
The throne room goes silent with horror.
"Anyone else want to question me?" Adrian's voice is cold and deadly. This is who he really is—not the perfect prince, but a killer who'll murder anyone in his way. "I am the rightful heir. I won't let a drunk and a scarred woman destroy what's mine."
He points his sword at me. "Kill them both. Now."
The remaining guards move forward, weapons raised. I count them—nineteen against two. Cassian doesn't even have a sword.
This is bad.
But I've been in bad situations before. When you're a woman warrior in a world that thinks women should sit quietly and look pretty, every day is a bad situation. You learn to survive anyway.
I raise my sword. "Cassian, stay behind me."
"No."
The word is so sharp, so commanding, that everyone stops. Even Adrian looks surprised.
Cassian—except this doesn't sound like Cassian at all—walks forward until he's beside me. Not behind. Beside. Like we're equals.
"Lady Sera risked her life to save mine," he says, his voice cold and clear. Nothing like the drunk slur I remember from the engagement ball. "The least I can do is die fighting next to her instead of hiding like a coward."
I glance at him sideways. Something is different about the wastrel prince. His eyes are harder. His stance is balanced like a fighter's. He's not swaying or stumbling. He looks... dangerous.
"When did you learn to stand up straight?" I mutter.
"Recently." His lips twitch in something almost like a smile. "How good are you with that sword?"
"Better than you."
"Probably. But I know nineteen ways to kill a man without a weapon." He says it so casually, like he's discussing the weather. "Cover my left side. I'll take the right."
Before I can ask what he means, Adrian screams, "ATTACK!"
The guards rush us from all sides. I spin and my sword cuts through air, meeting the first guard's weapon with a clash that rings through the room. I'm fast—trained since I was five years old by the best warriors in the Blackthorn family. My blade dances, blocking, parrying, striking.
I disarm one guard, knee another in the face, and slash a third across the arm.
But there are too many.
A sword cuts through my defense and slices across my ribs. Pain explodes through my side. I stumble, and three guards close in for the kill.
Then Cassian moves.
He's fast—impossibly fast for someone who's supposed to be a drunk. He grabs the wrist of the guard about to stab me, twists it with a sickening crack, and takes the man's sword. Then he's fighting like nothing I've ever seen.
This isn't royal sword training. This is street fighting. Brutal. Efficient. Deadly.
Cassian stabs a guard in the leg, spins and slams the sword's handle into another guard's face, breaks a third guard's knee with a vicious kick. He fights like he's done this a hundred times. Like killing is as natural as breathing.
"Who ARE you?" I gasp, pressing my hand to my bleeding side.
"Someone who doesn't lose." He doesn't even look winded. "Can you still fight?"
My pride answers before my pain does. "Try to keep up."
We fight back-to-back now, moving together like we've trained for years instead of minutes. Every time a guard attacks me, Cassian blocks them. Every time he's overwhelmed, I cover him. We're bleeding, exhausted, but we're winning.
Then I hear Adrian's voice: "ENOUGH!"
I turn and see him holding King Aldric by the throat, a dagger pressed to the King's neck.
"Drop your weapons," Adrian snarls, "or I kill Father right here."
Cassian and I freeze. Around us, the remaining guards back away, giving us space but keeping their swords ready.
King Aldric's eyes are wide with betrayal. "Adrian... my son... how could you—"
"How could I?" Adrian laughs bitterly. "You loved me most because I was perfect. Did you ever think what that pressure would do? Did you care? No. You just wanted your perfect heir and your pathetic spare." He presses the dagger harder, and a thin line of blood appears on the King's throat. "Well, the perfect heir is taking what he deserves."
"Don't do this," I say, trying to keep my voice steady. "You kill him, and every noble in this kingdom will hunt you down. There's no crown worth becoming a kinslayer."
"There's no crown without blood," Adrian shoots back. "Drop your weapons, or learn that lesson the hard way."
I look at Cassian. He's staring at Adrian with an expression I can't read—cold calculation mixed with something that might be pity.
"We drop our weapons, he kills us all anyway," Cassian says quietly. "That's what I'd do."
"You'd—what?" I stare at him. "What kind of prince thinks like that?"
"The kind who survives." He turns to me, and his golden eyes are intense. "Lady Sera, do you trust me?"
"Absolutely not."
"Good answer." He actually smiles. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to walk toward Adrian. You're going to wait exactly three seconds, then throw your sword at the guard standing behind the throne—the one with the bow aimed at my back."
I glance quickly and see it—a guard with an arrow notched, hidden partially behind a column. If Cassian moves toward Adrian, that guard will shoot him.
"How did you see him?" I whisper.
"I'm good at spotting killers." Cassian's voice drops lower. "After you throw your sword, run left and grab one of the fallen weapons. I'll handle Adrian."
"You'll 'handle' a man holding a knife to the King's throat? How?"
"The same way I handled everything else in my life." His smile turns deadly. "Very carefully and very violently."
Before I can argue, he drops his sword and raises his hands, walking slowly toward Adrian.
"Brother," Cassian calls out, "you win. Let Father go, and I'll confess to everything. Tell the kingdom I poisoned him, stole the money, all of it. You get your crown. I get executed. Everyone's happy."
Adrian's eyes narrow suspiciously. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I'm tired." Cassian sounds genuinely exhausted. "Tired of being the failure. Tired of disappointing everyone. Tired of living in your shadow. You want the throne? Take it. I don't care anymore."
He's lying. Every instinct I have screams that he's lying. But Adrian, desperate and paranoid, actually seems to consider it.
"You'll confess? In front of the whole court?"
"Every word you want me to say." Cassian takes another step closer. He's ten feet from Adrian now. "Just let Father live. He's dying anyway. Why add his blood to your conscience?"
Adrian hesitates. The dagger loosens slightly against the King's throat.
And Cassian looks at me and mouths: Now.
I don't think. I just throw.
My sword flies through the air like a silver arrow. It hits the hidden guard in the shoulder, and his bow clatters to the ground. He screams in pain.
In the same instant, Cassian moves.
He's not ten feet away anymore. Somehow, while Adrian was distracted by my throw, Cassian covered the distance. His hand snaps out, grabbing the wrist holding the dagger. He twists, and I hear bones break.
Adrian screams and drops the knife. Cassian catches it before it hits the ground and presses the blade to Adrian's throat—the exact reverse of five seconds ago.
"You were saying something about blood?" Cassian's voice is ice. "Let me teach you the first rule I learned about power, brother: the man holding the knife controls the conversation."
The remaining guards rush forward, but Cassian presses the dagger harder.
"One more step, and your perfect prince gets a new smile across his throat."
Everyone freezes.
King Aldric stumbles away from them both, coughing. "Cassian... you... when did you..."
"When did I get smart? Get dangerous? Get tired of being your disappointment?" Cassian doesn't take his eyes off Adrian. "Recently. Very recently."
I grab a fallen sword and move beside him, covering his back. My side is still bleeding, but I ignore it. "What now, Prince Cassian?"
"Now we find out who's really loyal to the crown." He raises his voice so the whole throne room can hear. "Anyone serving Prince Adrian—you have one chance to stand down. Or you can die with him."
Slowly, one by one, the guards lower their weapons. Even the ones wearing Adrian's colors back away. Nobody wants to die for a poisoner and a thief.
Adrian's face goes purple with rage. "You cowards! I'll have all your heads for this!"
"You'll have nothing." Cassian shoves Adrian forward, and guards immediately grab him, holding him tight. "Except maybe a cell next to the one waiting for your lover Vivienne."
Adrian thrashes against the guards holding him. "This isn't over! I'll escape! I'll come back and destroy you both! You're dead! YOU'RE DEAD!"
They drag him away, his screams echoing through the throne room.
The silence after is deafening.
King Aldric sinks onto his throne, looking ancient. "Cassian... explain everything. Now."
But before Cassian can speak, I step forward. My side is bleeding worse now, and the room is starting to spin. "Your Majesty, with respect, I think we need a doctor. Your son Cassian was poisoned three days ago and nearly died. I was stabbed. And you..." I look at his pale, sweating face. "You need help too."
The King nods weakly. "Someone fetch the royal physicians. And guards—find whoever Vivienne is and arrest her."
People scatter, shouting orders. In the chaos, Cassian turns to me.
"Thank you," he says quietly. "For saving my life."
I want to hate him. I should hate him. Six months ago, this man destroyed me in front of everyone I knew.
But this man—this person standing in front of me with blood on his hands and truth in his eyes—isn't the same Cassian who humiliated me.
"I didn't save you," I say coldly. "I saved the kingdom from having Adrian as king. Don't confuse the two."
"I won't." He pauses. "But I am sorry. For what I said at the engagement ball. For hurting you. You didn't deserve that."
"No. I didn't." I press harder on my bleeding side. "You were a coward and a drunk who broke me because you were already broken. Don't expect me to forgive you just because you suddenly grew a spine."
"I don't expect forgiveness." His golden eyes are sad. "I just wanted you to know: I see you now. The warrior. The brilliant strategist who spent six months gathering evidence against Adrian while everyone thought you were just a broken bride. I see you, Lady Sera. And I'm sorry I didn't see you before."
Something in his voice makes my throat tight. I turn away before he can see my face.
"The physicians are here!" someone shouts.
An old man rushes toward me with medical supplies. But as he gets closer, I see something flash in his hand—not medical tools.
A knife.
The "physician" lunges at Cassian's back, the blade aimed at his heart.
"CASSIAN!" I scream and shove him aside.
The knife meant for him plunges into my stomach instead.
Pain explodes through me, worse than anything I've ever felt. I look down and see the handle sticking out of my body, blood spreading across my armor.
The fake physician tries to run, but Cassian moves faster. He grabs the man, slams him to the ground, and presses his boot against the assassin's throat.
"Who sent you?" Cassian's voice is murderous. "WHO?"
The man just laughs, blood bubbling from his lips. "Long live Prince Adrian," he chokes out. Then his eyes go blank.
Dead. Poison pill hidden in his mouth, probably.
I stumble, and suddenly Cassian is there, catching me before I fall. He lowers me gently to the ground, his hands pressing against my wound. But there's so much blood. Too much.
"No, no, no." His voice breaks. "Sera, stay awake. Look at me. LOOK AT ME."
I try to focus on his face, but everything is blurry. "Stupid prince," I whisper. "I told you... I'm the only one... who gets to kill you..."
"Then you can't die." He's shouting now, frantic. "Because I need you alive to keep that promise! SOMEONE GET A REAL DOCTOR! NOW!"
But I can feel it. The darkness pulling me down. The cold spreading through my body.
I used all my strength to save a man I swore to hate.
And now I'm dying in his arms.
"Cassian..." I struggle to form words. "In my room... under the floorboard by the window... there's evidence. More evidence against Adrian. Make sure... make sure everyone knows..."
"I don't care about evidence!" Tears run down his face. "Don't you dare die on me, Sera. Not now. Not after you just saved my life!"
"Had to," I breathe. "Someone needs to... keep you humble..."
My eyes close. I hear him screaming my name, feel him shaking me, but I can't hold on anymore.
The last thing I think before the darkness takes me:
At least I died doing something brave. Not as the Scarred Lady everyone pitied.
As a warrior who saved a kingdom.