Aria's POV
The knife slips.
Blood drips onto the golden envelope. I watch three red drops slide across the royal seal before grabbing a towel and pressing it against my thumb.
Damn it, I whisper.
Five years of planning, and now I'm shaking so bad I can't even open an envelope without cutting myself.
The invitation mocks me. Inside is my ticket back to hell. Back to the palace where my sister tried to kill me. Back to the kingdom that was supposed to be mine.
I rip it open.
Ms. Aria Winters, you are formally invited to negotiate the Kingdom of Astoria's trade agreement.
They actually sent it. After weeks of placing myself as the only lawyer qualified for this job, they took the bait.
Seraphina.
I spin around. Dr. Elena Vasquez stands in my doorway, worry in her eyes. She saved me five years ago when I washed up on a beach more dead than alive. She put my shattered face back together. She became the mother I lost.
Don't call me that, I say sharply. That girl is dead.
Is she? Elena walks closer. Because right now, you look exactly like her. Scared. Young. Ready to run.
I'm not running. I slam the invitation down. I'm going back.
To do what? Get yourself killed again?
The words hit like a slap. I touch the scar near my temple the one I got when Celestia's guards beat me before throwing me off the cliffs.
She took everything, I say quietly. My crown. My kingdom. My life. She made the world think I was a traitor.
So you'll walk into her palace hoping she doesn't recognize you?
I meet Elena's eyes. She won't. You made sure of that.
It's true. Elena's surgeon friends rebuilt my shattered jaw, reshaped my nose. My golden hair is now auburn. My sapphire eyes hide behind violet contacts every day.
I'm not Princess Seraphina anymore. I'm Aria Winters a smart, tough lawyer who doesn't take garbage from anyone.
What about your heart? Elena asks softly. What happens when you see Kael again?
My chest tightens. Prince Kael Thorne. The man who saved my life that night.
I remember freezing water filling my lungs. Darkness swallowing me. Then strong hands pulling me up. Lips breathing air back into my dying body. Stormgray eyes staring down at me in moonlight.
Remember me, I whispered before everything went black.
When I woke in Elena's clinic three days later, every news station said: Princess Seraphina is dead. Long live Queen Celestia.
Kael doesn't matter, I lie. This isn't about him.
He's engaged to your sister now.
Of course I know. I've followed every news story for five years. Kael got engaged to Celestia six months after I died. He lives in the palace while Celestia plays the perfect queen.
The engagement is political, I say. Forced. He doesn't love her.
How do you know?
Because nobody could love Celestia. She's a monster.
Elena sighs. To the world, she's a beautiful queen. You're the dead traitor. If people find out who you really are
They won't.
Seraphina
ARIA! I shout. My name is Aria Winters. Seraphina drowned in that ocean.
Silence. Elena looks at me with such sadness it hurts.
Okay, Aria. If you're doing this, be smart. Celestia is dangerous. And Lord Marcus the man who helped plan the couphe's still her advisor. He'll be watching.
Let him watch. I have five years of evidence. Offshore accounts. Stolen money. Bribes. Everything I need to destroy him.
Revenge isn't the same as justice.
Maybe not. But it's a start.
I grab my phone and pull up the airline website. My finger hovers over book flight. One click and there's no going back. One click and I return to where I died.
One click and I start the war.
Are you sure? Elena asks.
I think about Celestia laughing while guards beat me. About being thrown from cliffs like garbage. About drowning in darkness while my sister stole my crown.
About Kael's hands on my chest, trying to bring me back to life.
I'm sure, I whisper. Celestia took everything. Time to take it back.
I click the button. Flight to Astoria, Kingdom Terminal. Departure: Tomorrow, 6 AM.
Revenge begins tomorrow.
Elena pulls me into a hug. Then I'm coming with you.
No. It's too dangerous
You're my daughter now. I'm not letting you walk into that palace alone.
Emotion floods my throat. For five years, Elena has been my only family.
Thank you, I whisper.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number.
I read it. The words make my blood run cold.
Welcome home, little sister. I've been waiting for you.
My phone crashes to the floor.
Elena grabs my shoulders. What is it?
I can't breathe. Can't think.
Celestia knows.
She knows I'm alive.
She knows I'm coming back.
She's been waiting this whole time.
We need to leave, I gasp. Right now. She knows everything.
Before Elena can respond, my apartment door explodes inward.
Three men in black suits storm inside, guns drawn.
The man leading them makes my heart stop.
It's Nikolai Volkov my old royal guard who supposedly died defending me five years ago.
He's alive.
And he's pointing a gun at my head.
Hello, Princess, he says with a cold smile. We need to talk.