Aria's POV
"Get out," I say, but my voice shakes.
Prince Cassian doesn't move. He stands between me and the locked door, filling the small cell with his presence. Dangerous. Unpredictable.
"Answer the question," he says. "Those papers weren't from any scholar. The way you think isn't normal. And that calculation you did in the throne room?" His eyes narrow. "My generals needed two days and twenty advisors. You did it in your head in seconds. That's not education, Lady Aria. That's something else."
My heart hammers. If I tell the truth—that I'm from the future, that I died and woke up in this body—he'll call me insane or possessed. Either way, I burn.
But lying to those cold, intelligent eyes feels impossible.
"Why do you care?" I counter. "You want me dead. You said so yourself."
"I want justice for Elara," he corrects. "If you're guilty, yes, you'll burn. But if you're innocent..." He pauses, and something shifts in his expression. Something almost human. "Then someone murdered the woman I was supposed to marry and framed you perfectly. Someone smart enough to fool my entire kingdom. I need to know if you're that person, or if you're smart enough to catch them."
"You think I can't be both?"
"I don't know what you are yet. That's the problem." He steps closer. I press harder against the stone wall. "You appear out of nowhere with knowledge that shouldn't exist. You solve problems in ways no one's ever seen. You look at me like..." He stops, jaw clenching. "Like you understand things about me you shouldn't understand."
That catches me off guard. "What?"
"In the throne room, when my father called me soft because of grief. You looked at me with something other than fear. Recognition maybe. Like you've felt it too—that hollow emptiness when someone rips your world apart." His voice drops. "How did you know?"
Because Marcus destroyed me the same way Elara's death destroyed you, I think. Because I know exactly what it feels like when the person you trusted most becomes your worst nightmare.
But I can't say that.
"Everyone grieves," I say carefully. "It's not special knowledge. It's just... being human."
"Except you looked at me like you were grieving too. Like something broke you before you ever came here." Cassian tilts his head, studying me. "What happened to you, Aria? What made you this afraid of trusting anyone?"
The question lands like a punch. How does he see that? I've been fighting for my life since I woke up in this world—when did he have time to notice I don't trust anyone?
"Your Highness, this isn't appropriate—"
"Nothing about this situation is appropriate," he cuts me off. "You're accused of murdering my fiancée. You claim innocence but possess impossible knowledge. My father wants you executed. Seraphina wants you discredited. And I..." He runs a hand through his black hair, frustrated. "I can't figure out if you're the most dangerous person I've ever met or the most brilliant."
"Maybe both," I whisper.
His eyes lock on mine. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Silence stretches between us. The torch flickers. I can hear my own heartbeat.
"I'm not your enemy," I finally say. "I didn't kill Princess Elara. I don't know why I have the knowledge I have—maybe my mother really did teach me, maybe I'm just different. But I'm not here to hurt your kingdom. I'm here because someone set me up to die, and I refuse to let them win."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why refuse?" Cassian asks. "Most people in your situation would give up. Accept their fate. But you keep fighting. Keep pushing back even when everyone wants you dead. Why?"
Because I already gave up once, I think. When Marcus betrayed me. When Sarah laughed. When my father chose her over me. I drove off that cliff because I had nothing left to fight for.
I won't make that mistake again.
"Because losing isn't an option," I say firmly. "Not anymore."
Something changes in Cassian's face. The ice cracks, just for a second, and I see the man underneath—tired, grieving, alone.
"I understand that," he says quietly.
Before I can respond, footsteps pound in the hallway. Someone's running.
Cassian moves instantly, positioning himself between me and the door. His hand goes to his sword.
The door crashes open. Lord Darius—the Master of Arms—stumbles in, face pale and panicked.
"Your Highness! Thank God I found you. There's been another poisoning."
My blood turns to ice. "Who?"
"Lord Marcus of House Wexley. He was one of the judges at your trial. He just collapsed at dinner—same symptoms as Princess Elara and Clara. Hemlock poisoning." Darius's eyes find mine. "He was about to present evidence tomorrow. Evidence he claimed would prove Lady Aria's innocence."
No. No no no.
"Is he alive?" Cassian demands.
"Barely. Brother Thomas is with him now. But Your Highness..." Darius swallows hard. "Lord Marcus is saying the evidence was stolen from his chambers. Someone broke in before dinner. Took everything."
Seraphina. It has to be Seraphina.
She's eliminating anyone who could help me. Killing witnesses. Destroying evidence. And now she'll use this new murder to prove I'm cursed—that death follows me everywhere.
"Where's Lady Seraphina?" Cassian's voice is sharp.
"At dinner with the King and court. She's been there all evening. At least fifty witnesses." Darius looks miserable. "She has an alibi, Your Highness."
Of course she does. She's too smart to poison someone herself. She has accomplices. Maybe multiple killers working for her.
Cassian turns to me. "Did you know about Lord Marcus's evidence?"
"No! I didn't even know he existed until today—"
"Your Highness," Darius interrupts. "There's more. Lord Marcus, before he collapsed, he said something strange. He said 'the golden rose knows everything.'"
"What does that mean?" Cassian asks.
"I don't know. He passed out before he could explain. But..." Darius hesitates. "The servants say 'golden rose' is Lady Seraphina's nickname. Because of her blonde hair and the rose perfume she wears."
The pieces click together in my mind. "Marcus was saying Seraphina knows everything. She's the one behind all of it—the murders, the frame-up, everything."
"That's a serious accusation based on a dying man's riddle," Cassian says, but his eyes are sharp. Thinking.
"It's the truth!" I insist. "She supervised my investigation today. She knows exactly what evidence I'm looking for. She's staying one step ahead by killing anyone who could help me and stealing anything that proves my innocence. She has the access, the intelligence, and the motive—she wanted to be your wife, not Princess Elara!"
Cassian stares at me for a long moment. "If you're right, Seraphina is orchestrating multiple murders while maintaining perfect alibis. That requires resources, accomplices, and ruthless planning."
"Yes."
"Then she's more dangerous than I thought. And if she realizes we suspect her..." He doesn't finish, but I understand.
She'll kill us too.
"What do we do?" I ask.
Cassian's face hardens into the Ice Prince again. "We set a trap. Make her think she's won. Then we catch her in the act."
"How?"
"You're going to pretend to give up. Tomorrow, you'll announce you're confessing to the murders. You'll claim you can't prove your innocence and accept your execution." His gray eyes bore into mine. "And Seraphina will get confident. Careless. She'll make a mistake."
"That's your plan? Use me as bait?" I'm furious and terrified at once. "What if she just lets me die? What if she doesn't make a mistake?"
"Then I'll stop your execution myself," Cassian says. "You have my word."
"The word of a man who wanted me dead yesterday?"
His jaw clenches. "The word of a prince who's starting to believe he may have been wrong about you."
Before I can process that, Darius clears his throat. "Your Highness, the King is asking for you. He wants Lady Aria brought to the council chamber. He's convening an emergency trial for the new murder."
Cassian curses under his breath. "Already? He's moving too fast."
"Lord Gregor convinced him. Said the kingdom isn't safe while the murderess lives." Darius looks at me with something like pity. "I'm sorry, my lady. But they're calling for immediate execution. Tonight."
The world tilts. "Tonight? But I have two more days—"
"They've revoked that," Darius says miserably. "Three deaths in three days. The King says you're too dangerous to keep alive any longer."
Cassian spins toward him. "I'm the Crown Prince. My word guaranteed her three days—"
"And the King is still King, Your Highness. His word overrules yours."
Panic floods through me. This is it. Seraphina forced their hand somehow. Got the King paranoid enough to override Cassian's protection.
I'm going to die tonight.
Cassian sees my face and something shifts in his expression. He turns to Darius.
"Tell my father I'm bringing Lady Aria personally. But first, I need ten minutes alone with the prisoner to question her about Lord Marcus."
Darius hesitates. "Your Highness—"
"Ten minutes, Darius. That's an order."
Darius bows and leaves reluctantly. The door closes.
Cassian immediately grabs my arm. "Listen carefully. When we reach the council chamber, you're going to do exactly what I say. Trust me."
"Trust you? You wanted me dead!"
"And now I want you alive," he says urgently. "Because either you're innocent and someone's committing perfect murders in my castle, or you're guilty and the most dangerous person I've ever met. Either way, I need you alive to find the truth."
"That's not reassuring—"
"Aria." He grabs my shoulders, forcing me to meet his eyes. "I swear on Princess Elara's grave—I will not let you burn tonight. But you have to trust me. Can you do that?"
Every instinct screams no. Trust got me betrayed. Trust got me killed.
But looking into Cassian's storm-gray eyes, I see something I didn't see before.
Determination. And maybe, just maybe, the beginning of belief.
"What's your plan?" I whisper.
He leans close and tells me. With each word, my eyes widen.
It's insane. Dangerous. Could get us both executed.
"That's your brilliant plan?" I hiss when he finishes.
His smile is sharp as his sword. "You have a better one?"
I don't. God help me, I don't.
"Fine," I breathe. "But if this gets me killed, I'm haunting you forever."
"I'd expect nothing less."
Footsteps approach again. Time's up.
Cassian steps back, his face transforming back into cold indifference. The Ice Prince returns.
When the guards open the door, Cassian grabs my chains and yanks me forward roughly. "Move, murderess. Let's see if you can talk your way out of this one."
He marches me down the corridor toward the council chamber. Toward my emergency trial.
Toward either salvation or death.
And as we walk, he whispers one last thing so quietly only I hear:
"When I give the signal, run."