Seraphina's POV
The screaming started at midnight.
I pressed my back against the cold cellar wall, hands clamped over my mouth to trap the sob trying to escape. Above me, boots thundered across the wooden floors of Ashmont Keep. My home. My prison now.
Please! My children—they're just children! Mama's voice cut through the chaos, high and desperate.
Then silence.
The kind of silence that swallows sound and spits out nightmares.
My whole body shook. I'd been hiding down here for what felt like hours, ever since Papa shoved me through the kitchen entrance and locked it behind me. Stay quiet, Seraphina. No matter what you hear, stay quiet.
But how could I stay quiet when my world was ending?
Metal clashed against metal somewhere above. Men shouted orders in voices that didn't belong here. The acrid smell of smoke crept through the floorboards, making my eyes water.
Form up in the courtyard! a deep voice commanded. Bring Lord Ashmont.
Papa.
I crawled to the narrow cellar window, barely big enough to see through. Moonlight painted the courtyard silver. Imperial soldiers in black armor dragged Papa into the center, forcing him to his knees. Blood streaked his face. His hands were bound.
A tall figure stepped forward. Even from here, I could see the gold insignia on his chest—a general's rank. His dark hair was military-short, his face all sharp angles and cold authority.
Lord Ashmont, the general said, his voice carrying across the courtyard. You stand accused of treason against Emperor Aldric. The sentence is death.
I only wanted peace! Papa shouted. This war has
The sword fell.
Papa's scream cut short.
I bit down on my fist so hard I tasted blood. My father. My father who taught me to read star maps and laugh at terrible jokes. Gone in a single stroke.
No survivors, the general ordered, turning away. Burn it all.
Footsteps pounded toward the main house. Toward Mama's chambers.
No, no, no, I whispered, tears streaming down my face.
Mama's scream pierced the night. Once. Twice.
Then nothing.
The cellar door rattled. I scrambled backward, pressing into the darkest corner behind a wine rack. Maybe they wouldn't find me. Maybe
Sera?
My heart stopped. That voice.
Sera, where are you?
Elias. My twelve-year-old brother.
The cellar door burst open. Elias stumbled down the stairs, clutching his stomach. Dark wetness spread across his nightshirt. Blood. So much blood.
Elias! I lunged from my hiding spot, catching him as he collapsed.
Found you, he whispered, trying to smile. Had to... had to warn you...
Don't talk. Just hold on. Please, Elias, please
His hand gripped mine with desperate strength. Sera... make them pay. Promise me.
I promise. I promise anything, just don't
His eyes fixed on something past my shoulder. The light in them faded like candles snuffing out.
Elias? Elias! I shook him, but he was already gone. His blood soaked into my dress, warm and sticky. I pulled him against my chest, rocking back and forth. No tears came. I was beyond tears. Beyond anything but the howling emptiness inside.
Boots descended the cellar stairs.
I looked up.
The general stood at the bottom step, backlit by fire. Storm-gray eyes met mine across the space between us. He was younger than I'd thought—maybe thirty—with a face that might have been handsome if it wasn't so cold.
This one lives, he said, addressing the soldiers behind him.
Sir? one soldier questioned. Orders were
I know what the orders were. The general's voice cut like glass. This is Lady Seraphina Ashmont. She's the treaty bride. Emperor's orders.
Treaty bride?
Understanding crashed over me. They weren't just killing my family. They were taking everything—our land, our title, our future. And they were taking me as some kind of prize.
The general stepped closer. His eyes traveled from Elias's body to my blood-soaked dress, and something flickered across his face. Regret? Impossible. Monsters don't feel regret.
I'm sorry, he said quietly.
Rage exploded in my chest, hot and vicious. Sorry? He was sorry? He murdered my father. His soldiers killed Mama. And now my baby brother lay dead in my arms because of him.
I wanted to scream. To claw at his face. To make him hurt the way I was hurting.
Instead, I met his gaze and smiled.
It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of someone making a promise. A vow written in blood and grief.
One day, I would destroy him. I would become whatever I needed to become—play whatever role I needed to play. I'd smile and curtsy and pretend. And when he finally let his guard down, when he finally trusted the broken girl he'd captured...
I would kill General Cassian Valorent with my own hands.
Get her up, the general ordered, his expression hardening again. Carefully.
Soldiers moved forward. I held Elias tighter.
My lady. The general's voice was surprisingly gentle. You have to let him go now.
No.
He's gone. Holding him won't bring him back.
I know that! My voice cracked, spilling fury into the words. I know he's gone. They're all gone. Because of you.
The general said nothing.
Soldiers pried Elias from my arms. I fought them, but I was small and weak and they were trained warriors. They pulled me to my feet, dragging me toward the stairs.
I looked back once.
Elias lay on the cellar floor in a pool of spreading crimson. Twelve years old and dead because he tried to warn me.
Make them pay, his voice whispered in my memory.
As soldiers hauled me up the stairs and out into the burning courtyard, I locked eyes with the general one more time.
He watched me with an expression I couldn't read. Almost like he knew exactly what I was thinking.
Take her to the fortress prison, he ordered. She'll be held there until the wedding.
Wedding. The word tasted like poison.
They dragged me away from my burning home, away from my family's bodies, away from everything I'd ever loved.
But they couldn't drag away the promise I'd made.
General Cassian Valorent had destroyed my world.
Now I would destroy his.
Even if I had to marry him to do it.
Six months later, I would stand in a cathedral wearing black, speaking vows that tasted like vengeance. But that night—that horrible, blood-soaked night—I didn't know the worst was yet to come.
I didn't know the man who'd killed my family would haunt his own nightmares.
I didn't know falling in love with your enemy could hurt worse than losing everything.
I didn't know that sometimes, the person you hate most is the only one who can save you.
All I knew was hatred.
And hatred, I would learn, was the most dangerous foundation for a marriage.