SERA'S POV
My hands won't stop shaking.
I stand at the entrance to the ballroom, and everyone is staring at me. Two hundred nobles. Two hundred smiles. They think they know what's about to happen tonight.
So do I.
I'm wrong.
"Sera! There you are!" My stepsister Celeste glides toward me, her pink dress sparkling under the chandeliers. She's smiling, but her eyes are cold. They're always cold. "Marcus has been asking for you. He says he has a very special announcement."
My heart jumps. This is it. The moment I've been waiting for since I was sixteen years old. Marcus is going to propose. Finally, after everything I've been through since Mother died, something good is happening.
"Come on." Celeste loops her arm through mine. Her grip is too tight. "Everyone's waiting."
She pulls me through the crowd. Nobles bow and whisper. I catch pieces of their words.
"...finally making it official..."
"...about time..."
"...poor girl, after everything..."
Poor girl. I hate those words. Ever since Father remarried Lady Vivienne two years ago, everyone looks at me with pity. The servants whisper. The nobles gossip. My stepmother took over the household, and suddenly I'm invisible in my own home.
But Marcus loves me. He promised he'd marry me and take me away from all of this.
Tonight, everything changes.
We reach the front of the ballroom where Marcus stands on a platform. He's handsome in his black suit, his blonde hair perfect. When he sees me, something flickers across his face. Is that... guilt?
No. I'm imagining things.
"Sera." He reaches for my hand. His palm is sweaty. "Thank you for coming."
"Of course," I whisper. My heart is beating so fast I can barely breathe. "Marcus, what's—"
"Everyone!" Marcus's voice booms across the ballroom. The crowd goes quiet. "Thank you all for coming tonight. I've gathered you here to celebrate a very important moment in my life."
This is it. I squeeze his hand, smiling.
He pulls his hand away.
"I'm getting married," Marcus announces.
The crowd erupts in applause. I'm smiling so hard my face hurts. Finally. Finally, I—
"To the lovely Lady Celeste Ashwood."
The world stops.
The applause continues, but I can't hear it anymore. There's a ringing in my ears. Marcus turns away from me and extends his hand. To Celeste. My stepsister. She steps up beside him, beaming, and he slides a ring onto her finger.
The same ring his grandmother promised me.
"No." The word comes out broken. "No, this is... Marcus?"
He won't look at me. Celeste does. And she's smiling like she's won a war.
"Marcus!" I grab his arm. People are staring now. "What are you doing? You said—you promised we'd—"
"I'm sorry, Sera." He finally looks at me, and there's nothing in his eyes. No love. No warmth. Nothing. "But I've chosen Celeste. She'll make a much better wife."
The ballroom spins. I can't breathe. Can't think. This isn't real. It can't be real.
"How touching," a voice says from behind me. I turn. Lady Vivienne, my stepmother, stands there with a smile that makes my blood cold. "But before we celebrate, there's something everyone should know."
No. Please, no.
"What are you doing?" I whisper.
Lady Vivienne ignores me. She raises her voice. "Unfortunately, dear Sera hasn't been entirely faithful during her... arrangement with Lord Marcus."
The crowd gasps. My father pushes through them, his face red. "What are you saying, Vivienne?"
"I have proof." Celeste pulls out letters from her dress. Letters I've never seen before. "Sera has been having an affair with the stable hand, Jonathan. These are love letters between them."
"That's a lie!" I scream. "I've never—I would never—"
"There are witnesses," Lady Vivienne says smoothly. Three servants step forward. They work in our house. I know them. "Tell them what you saw."
"We saw Lady Sera sneaking to the stables at night," the first one says. His eyes won't meet mine.
"We saw her kissing the stable hand," the second adds.
"She gave him gifts and money," the third finishes.
"Liars!" I'm shaking so hard I can barely stand. "Father, you can't believe this! I've never—"
"Sera." My father's voice is ice. He's looking at me like I'm a stranger. Like I'm disgusting. "Is this true?"
"No! None of it's true! They're lying, they're all—"
"I've heard enough." Father's face twists with anger. "You've disgraced this family. You've embarrassed me in front of the entire kingdom."
"Father, please—"
"Duke Ashwood," one of the nobles calls out. "What will you do? This is a terrible scandal."
The crowd murmurs in agreement. They're all staring at me like I'm garbage. Like I'm nothing.
My father straightens his shoulders. "As head of the Ashwood family, I hereby strip Sera of her title and inheritance. Effective immediately, she is no longer my heir."
The world tilts.
"Everything will go to Celeste, my true daughter, who has brought honor to this family."
"No." I stumble backward. "No, Father, you can't—that's my inheritance! Mother left that to me!"
"Your mother is dead," Lady Vivienne says coldly. "And she'd be ashamed of you."
Something breaks inside me. I lunge at Celeste, but guards grab my arms. "You planned this! All of you! This is a lie!"
"Remove her from my sight," Father orders. "Put her in the servant quarters. If she wants to act like trash, she can live like it."
"No! No, let me go!" I scream as the guards drag me away. The nobles watch with disgust. Marcus has his arm around Celeste now. And my father—my father has already turned his back.
The last thing I see before the guards throw me out is Celeste's smile.
And I realize the truth.
This was never about Marcus.
This was always about destroying me.