Seraphina's POV
The boiling soup splashed across my hand, and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming.
"Faster, you useless girl!" Cook Margaret's face turned red as she shoved another pot at me. "Princess Elise's birthday ball starts in two hours, and you're moving like a frozen slug!"
I wanted to tell her that my hand was burning. That I'd been scrubbing floors since dawn without food or water. That I was the older princess, not a servant.
But I kept my mouth shut. In the Glacial Kingdom, princesses without ice magic didn't get to complain. They got to survive.
"Sorry, Cook Margaret," I whispered, grabbing the pot with my burned hand.
The kitchen exploded with noise around me. Twenty cooks shouted orders. Fifty servants ran back and forth carrying trays of fancy food. Ice sculptures sparkled on every table, created by mages showing off their powers.
Powers I would never have.
I dumped dirty dishes into the washing basin so hard that water splashed everywhere. My reflection stared back at me from the soapy surface—honey-blonde hair falling out of its bun, golden eyes that looked too tired for someone who was only twenty-three, and bruises on my arms from yesterday when I'd "accidentally" been pushed down the stairs.
"Move it, Seraphina!" A servant boy bumped past me, nearly knocking me over.
Nobody said "Princess Seraphina." Not anymore.
I bent down to scrub a burned pot when a crash exploded behind me.
A young servant girl—she couldn't be more than twelve—stood frozen in horror. Broken plates covered the floor around her feet. Red sauce splattered across the white tiles like blood.
"No, no, no," the girl whispered, tears filling her eyes.
Cook Margaret spun around, her face turning purple. "You clumsy idiot! That was the Queen's special dinner!"
The girl started crying. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"
"You'll be whipped for this!" Cook Margaret grabbed a wooden spoon like a weapon.
I didn't think. I just moved.
"It was me!" The words burst out of my mouth as I stepped between them. "I bumped into her. It's my fault."
Cook Margaret's angry eyes locked onto mine. "Of course it was you. You destroy everything you touch, just like you destroyed your mother's reputation by being born defective."
The words stabbed into my chest, but I kept my face calm. I'd heard worse.
"I'll clean it up," I said quietly. "And I'll skip dinner tonight to make up for the wasted food."
The little servant girl looked at me with wide, grateful eyes.
Cook Margaret threw the wooden spoon at my feet. "Clean this mess. Now. And if you're not in the ballroom in one hour to serve drinks, I'll have you thrown in the dungeon."
She stormed away, yelling at other servants.
I knelt down and started picking up broken plates. The young girl knelt beside me.
"Thank you," she whispered. "My name is Lily. You saved me."
"It's okay." I gave her a small smile even though my hands were shaking. "Go help with the decorations before Cook Margaret comes back."
Lily ran off, and I was alone with the broken pieces.
Just like always.
As I scrubbed red sauce off the white tiles, a memory crashed into my mind—
Five-year-old me standing in the throne room, surrounded by my parents and the entire royal court. It was the day when children's magic usually appeared.
"Show us your power, Seraphina," Father said gently.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried so hard. I imagined ice forming in my hands like it did for other children. I imagined freezing the water in the bowl in front of me.
Nothing happened.
I tried again. And again. And again.
Still nothing.
Mother—Queen Isolde—stood up from her throne. Her beautiful face looked like it was carved from ice.
"She has no magic," Mother said, her voice cold and flat. "My daughter is worthless."
The court gasped.
Father tried to argue: "Isolde, she's only five—"
"Get her out of my sight," Mother interrupted. "I will not have a defective child embarrass this family."
That was the last time Mother ever called me her daughter.
"Seraphina!" Cook Margaret's screech pulled me back to the present. "Why are you still sitting there? Get upstairs and put on serving clothes! The guests are arriving!"
I stood up, my knees aching from kneeling on the hard floor.
Serving clothes. Not a ball gown like Elise would wear. Not a princess dress like I should have worn.
Servant rags.
Because that's what I was now. The forgotten princess. The family shame. The girl without magic in a kingdom where magic was everything.
I walked through the servant hallways toward the changing room, my burned hand throbbing with each step.
Maybe tonight would be like every other night. I would serve drinks, stay invisible, and survive another day.
But as I reached for the door handle, I heard two guards talking in the hallway around the corner.
"—the Winter King himself is coming tonight."
My hand froze on the door handle.
"King Caspian?" the other guard whispered. "The Frozen Death? Here?"
"Queen Isolde invited him. Apparently, he's finally ready to choose a bride after ten years of isolation."
My stomach dropped.
Everyone knew about King Caspian Northwind. The most powerful ice mage in history. The cursed king whose touch could kill. The man so dangerous that even other royals feared him.
Why would he come here?
"He'll choose Princess Elise for sure," the first guard continued. "She's the most powerful ice mage of her generation. It's the perfect match."
"Poor girl who marries him, though. They say his curse kills everything he touches. His last three servants died just from standing too close."
The guards walked away, their voices fading.
I stood there, my heart pounding.
The Winter King was coming tonight.
And for some reason I couldn't explain, I felt like everything was about to change.
I pushed open the door to the changing room and stopped dead.
Hanging on the hook was a servant's dress—but not just any servant dress. This one was old, stained, and had holes in it. The worst dress in the entire palace.
A note was pinned to it in handwriting I recognized immediately.
Wear this tonight, dear sister. I want you to look your best when the Winter King sees what our family has to offer.
—Elise
My hands clenched into fists.
Elise wanted to humiliate me in front of the most powerful king in the world.
But I had no choice. If I didn't wear it, I'd be punished. If I was punished, Lily and other servants who were kind to me would suffer too.
I put on the horrible dress.
As I walked toward the ballroom, I made myself a promise: I would survive tonight. I would stay invisible. I would not let them break me.
But the moment I pushed open the ballroom doors and saw what was waiting inside, I realized my promise was about to be shattered.
Because standing in the center of the ballroom, surrounded by frozen mist and making every person in the room look small and weak, was a man who looked like death itself.
Silver-white hair. Ice-blue eyes that seemed to see through everything.
And those eyes were looking directly at me.
King Caspian had arrived.
And somehow, I knew my life would never be the same again.