Seraphina's POV
I couldn't breathe.
The ballroom spun around me as hundreds of shocked faces stared. Their whispers crashed over me like waves trying to drown me.
"He chose the defective one?"
"She'll be dead before the week is over!"
"The curse will kill her for sure!"
My legs shook so badly I thought I'd collapse right there on the marble floor. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare I'd wake up from.
But King Caspian's ice-blue eyes stared at me with an intensity that felt too real to be a dream.
"WHAT?" Elise's scream shattered through my shock. She rushed forward, her perfect face twisted into something ugly and terrifying. "No! This is a mistake! You meant to choose me!"
Ice magic crackled around her hands, sharp and dangerous.
"There's no mistake," Caspian said, his voice cold enough to freeze fire. He didn't even look at Elise. His eyes stayed locked on me. "I choose Seraphina."
Mother shot up from her throne. For one horrible second, her face showed pure rage—at me, at Caspian, at everything falling apart.
But then something changed in her eyes. They went from angry to calculating in a heartbeat.
Her fury melted into a smile. A terrible, fake smile that made my stomach turn.
"Your Majesty," Mother said sweetly, too sweetly. "Surely you mean Elise? She's powerful, beautiful, everything a Winter Queen should be. Seraphina is just—"
"I said what I meant." Caspian's voice cut through her words like a knife through ice. "I choose Seraphina. Is that clear enough for you, Queen Isolde?"
The way he said her name—like a threat—made Mother's smile falter for just a second.
But then it grew even wider.
And that's when I understood.
Mother wasn't upset anymore. She was happy.
Because everyone knew what marrying the Winter King meant. Death. His curse killed everything he touched. People said his last three servants died just from being near him too long.
Mother saw this as the perfect solution. I'd die, and she could finally be free of her "shameful" daughter. No blood on her hands. Just a tragic accident with a cursed king.
"Of course, Your Majesty," Mother purred, emphasizing every word. "Seraphina would be honored to serve as your bride."
Serve. Like I was a servant being offered up. Like I was garbage being thrown away.
The court laughed—quiet, cruel laughs that stabbed into me.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to run. I wanted to disappear.
But my voice was trapped in my throat, and my feet felt frozen to the floor.
"The wedding will be in three days," Caspian announced. His face showed no emotion at all. "Prepare her properly."
Three days.
I had three days left to live.
The room tilted. Black spots danced in my vision.
"Excellent," Mother said, clapping her hands together. "We'll prepare everything. Thank you, Your Majesty, for this... generous offer."
Generous. She made it sound like he was doing our family a favor by taking me off their hands.
Caspian's jaw tightened. For a moment, something almost like anger flashed through his cold eyes.
But then he turned and walked toward the exit, frost spreading with every step. His black cape swirled behind him like wings.
Right before he reached the door, he stopped and looked back at me one last time.
Our eyes met across the ballroom.
I expected cruelty. Coldness. The heartless stare of a monster.
But what I saw in his eyes looked almost like... regret?
Then he was gone. The doors slammed shut behind him with an icy blast that made everyone shiver.
Silence fell over the ballroom. Everyone stared at me like I was already dead.
Then Elise moved.
She crossed the space between us in three angry steps and grabbed my arm so hard her nails dug into my skin.
"This isn't over, sister," she hissed in my ear, her voice low and venomous. "You think you've won something? You've won death. And when his curse kills you—and it will—I'll be there. I'll comfort him. He'll turn to me. And I'll get everything that should have been mine from the start."
She shoved me backward so hard I stumbled.
"Enjoy your last three days," Elise spat. Then she smiled—a sharp, cruel smile. "I hope they're worth dying for."
She stormed off, ice crackling in her wake.
I stood there shaking, my arm throbbing where her nails had cut into skin.
Mother approached next, but she didn't grab me. She didn't touch me at all. She never did.
"Well," Mother said lightly, like we were discussing the weather. "You've finally found your purpose, Seraphina. To die with dignity and bring our family some political favor with your sacrifice."
My throat burned with tears I refused to let fall. "Did you plan this?"
"Plan it? No." Mother's smile was ice-cold. "But I'm certainly not sorry about it. You've been nothing but an embarrassment since the day you were born. At least now, your death will mean something."
She leaned closer, and her next words were barely a whisper: "Maybe in your next life, you'll be born with magic. Born worthy of being my daughter."
Then she swept away to calm the gossiping nobles, leaving me standing alone in the center of the ballroom.
The whispers started again, louder now:
"Poor thing. She won't last a week."
"The curse will freeze her heart in her sleep."
"I heard his touch turns people into ice statues."
"Such a waste. Though I suppose she was already worthless."
Guards appeared at my sides. The same ones who'd dragged me forward earlier.
"Come on," one of them muttered. "The Queen wants you locked in your room until the wedding."
Locked. Like a prisoner. Like I might try to escape my own death sentence.
They grabbed my arms and started pulling me toward the servant corridors—because I wasn't good enough for the main hallways, even now.
As they dragged me away, I heard Mother's voice rise above the whispers: "Let's continue the celebration! Elise, darling, show them that beautiful ice magic again!"
Music started playing. The ball continued like nothing had happened. Like my entire life hadn't just been destroyed in front of everyone.
I stumbled between the guards, my mind spinning.
Three days. I had three days before I married a man whose very touch could kill me.
Three days before I became the Winter King's bride and his curse ended my life.
Three days before I finally escaped this nightmare—just not the way I'd ever imagined.
The guards shoved me into my tiny servant room and slammed the door. I heard the lock click.
I collapsed onto my thin mattress, finally letting the tears fall.
This was how my story would end. Not with magic or power or happiness. But with death in a frozen palace, married to a cursed king, mourned by no one.
Maybe Mother was right. Maybe I was always meant to be worthless.
But then I remembered something strange.
The way Caspian had looked at me in that moment before he left. Not with cruelty or coldness.
With regret.
And earlier, when our eyes had met, something impossible had happened. The frost on his arms had retreated. Just for a second.
What did that mean?
I sat up slowly, wiping my tears.
Everyone said King Caspian's curse killed everything. That nothing could survive his touch.
But when he'd looked at me, the curse had pulled back.
Was it just coincidence?
Or was there something more?
A knock on my door made me jump.
"Who is it?" I called out, my voice shaky.
"A friend," came a whispered reply.
The door cracked open, and Lady Mira slipped inside, her face pale with worry.
"Sera," she breathed, rushing to hug me. "I heard everything. Are you okay?"
I almost laughed. Okay? I was about to marry death itself.
But before I could answer, Mira pulled back and looked at me with fierce determination.
"Listen to me carefully," she whispered urgently. "I've been researching the Winter King's curse. And I found something. Something important."
My heart jumped. "What?"
Mira glanced at the door nervously, then leaned close.
"The curse can be broken. But only by—"
The door burst open.
Guards flooded in, grabbing Mira and pulling her away from me.
"No outside contact!" one guard barked. "Queen's orders!"
"Wait!" I screamed. "Please, just let her finish—"
But they dragged Mira out, and she fought against them, trying to tell me something.
Her lips moved, forming words I couldn't hear over the guards' shouting.
The door slammed shut. Lock clicked.
Silence.
I pressed my hands against the door, my heart racing.
What had Mira discovered? How could the curse be broken?
And why had Mother made sure I couldn't find out?
Three days until my wedding.
Three days until I married the Winter King.
Three days until I discovered if I was walking toward my death... or toward the answer everyone said was impossible.