The blade pressed against my throat wasn't sharp—but it was cold.
Like the voice behind me.
"Step quietly," the man whispered. "Or I'll slice your skin open, just enough to bleed slowly. We both know Lucien doesn't arrive in time when it matters."
I froze. Ayra…
"Touch my daughter, and I'll kill you," I hissed.
He laughed. "Your daughter? She's royal blood. She belongs to the throne, not to you."
The man shoved me through the corridor like a shadow. No guards. No noise.
Lucien had made sure no one could get to me.
But he forgot something.
Someone always gets through when it's personal.
Outside, a dark carriage waited near the stables.
"I'll scream," I said.
"Then I'll cut your tongue out," he replied smoothly. "Just like your mother's was."
I stopped breathing.
My mother.
She'd died in an "accident."
But now…?
He shoved me inside the carriage and slammed the door shut. We rode into the night, the city lights shrinking behind us.
"You should've stayed dead, Ivy," he said. "Now the King knows you're alive."
My heart cracked open.
"The King?" I whispered.
"Yes. The man you ran from. The man whose crown you were born to wear beside him."
I stared at him in disbelief.
Lucien wasn't the only danger in Veloria.
There was another. And he was coming for me.
The carriage wheels screeched to a stop in front of a fortress bathed in silver light. I was dragged out like a prisoner—no blindfold, no chains. Just the weight of what I was about to face.
Lucien's name was still on my lips… but the man waiting at the gates wasn't him.
He stood tall, regal, and terrifying. His silver eyes met mine with recognition.
"You've grown, Ivy," he said softly. "But your fire still burns under all that fear."
I stepped back. "Who are you?"
He smiled. "I'm the man they told you was dead."
My heart jumped.
"…Father?"
He tilted his head. "Not by blood. But by power? Yes. You were promised to me long before Lucien claimed you."
I stared at him, shaken. "Lucien doesn't own me."
"But he does. And so do I," the King whispered. "The blood war begins again—and you, little thorn, are the crown we're both fighting for."
"I'm not yours," I said, voice shaking.
"You were born royal. You just forgot," he said. "But Lucien never did. That's why he stole you."
Stole me?
"You mean I was…?"
The man nodded slowly. "Taken from the palace. Hidden in the shadows. Raised in pain. All so Lucien could break you—and rebuild you as his."
The truth stung.
"You're lying," I whispered.
He smirked. "Ask yourself why Lucien never told you where you came from."
My knees nearly buckled.
Because deep inside… I already knew.
And outside the fortress, Lucien had just discovered I was gone.
And he was coming.