Anna woke up inside Lilian's body with a feeling she had never known before; it wasn't just a hangover, but a sense of physical defeat mixed with terror. The room was swimming in pale gray light, and the biting cold characteristic of the Royal Palace suites stung her naked skin beneath the covers. Beside her, Alistair Cloud represented the calm after the storm. He was not a man who slept deeply; rather, he seemed to be in a state of combat readiness, as if his senses remained awake even when his eyes were closed.
When he opened his gray eyes, she didn't find the surprise she had hoped for. He didn't say, "What are you doing here?" Instead, he spoke with a coldness that froze the blood in her veins: "Good morning, Lady Lilian. I hope the reality pleased you as much as the dream did last night."
Lilian tried to gather the scattered remains of her dignity. She pulled the silk sheets to cover her body, shivering, and spoke in a tone she tried to make sharp: "Duke Alistair... what happened here... must be erased. You know who I am, and you know what lies between our families. This is not just a mistake; it is political and social suicide. Please... in the name of the honor you claim, keep this secret, and I will leave, and no one will see me."
Alistair rose from the bed with a graceful movement, indifferent to his partial nudity, and walked to the window to open the heavy curtains. Light flooded the room, revealing the traces of the raucous night on the floor: her torn dress and her scattered hairpins. He turned to her with a mocking smile: "Honor? Last night was not a night of honor, Lilian; it was a night of truth. You entered my chamber knowing my motto well: 'What enters the North does not leave.' Your parents broke off our engagement long ago, thinking I was unworthy of you. And now? I have collected an old debt."
She approached him, tears burning her eyelids: "I beg you! The Everberg and Cloud families are in a blood feud. If my father finds out, he will kill you or kill me."
Alistair laughed, a sound like cracking ice: "Let him kill me if he can. But he won't. He will give you to me, humbled, to wash away the shame of his daughter. You have twenty-four hours. Either you announce your desire to revive the old engagement, or I will send a messenger to your father with a piece of this dress... along with the details of our night. And then, you will have no choice but to be my oppressed wife."
Lilian returned to her family's wing like a wandering ghost. She spent the twenty-four hours in absolute silence, refusing food and drink, while Anna's mind analyzed the situation. She wasn't afraid of the scandal as much as she was contemplating survival. Alistair was not a man who could be discarded, and the feud between the families was both a shackle and an opportunity.
The next morning, she requested a meeting with her father and brothers in the "Duke's Office"—a room opened only for calamities or fateful decisions. The atmosphere was charged with the smell of tobacco and old leather. Duke Leonard sat like a deaf rock; to his right was Cayden, who was cleaning his dagger with boredom, and to his left was Cillian, watching her with a gaze that pierced her artificial calm.
"What is it, Lilian?" the Duke asked in a rasping voice. "Have you run out of money again?"
Lilian took a deep breath and clasped her hands over the heavy wooden table. "I have decided to marry, Father. And the suitor is Duke Alistair Cloud."
The dagger fell from Cayden's hand, embedding itself in the wooden floor. Duke Leonard stood up slowly, his face turning from pale to the red of murderous rage. "What did you say? That Northern Wolf? The person who killed your uncles in the border battle? Have you completely lost your mind?"
"This will happen over my dead body!" Cayden shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. "I will go now and tear him to pieces!"
"Sit down, Cayden!" Lilian shouted with uncharacteristic strength, a force that silenced everyone in shock. "Father... Cillian... listen to me with your minds, not your hearts filled with malice. The Everberg family is collapsing, and the King is tightening the noose on us with Eastern Port taxes because the Crown Prince despises us. We are politically isolated."
She looked at Cillian, the smartest brother, and continued: "Cillian, you know the Cloud family possesses the army the King fears. If we ally with them, we will strangle the Capital from the North and the East. The enmity you speak of is our strongest weapon. A marriage that ends a hundred-year feud is a 'political statement' that will make the King tremble on his throne. No one will dare touch our taxes or belittle us."
Cillian nodded slowly, his eyes gleaming with deep thought. "Your words carry a cold and frightening logic... but it is social suicide. How will we convince the nobles?"
"Nobles follow power, Cillian," Lilian replied coldly. "I will be the hostage and the guarantee in the North. I will control the beast's heart, or at least his decisions. Instead of being an outcast Duke's daughter chasing a foolish Crown Prince, I will be the 'Duchess of the North' who holds the keys to war and peace in the Kingdom. Father... you always wanted to protect the Everberg legacy. This marriage is the only shield that will prevent the King from confiscating our lands under the pretext of debt."
A long silence prevailed. Duke Leonard looked at his daughter as if discovering a small monster that had grown in his house without him noticing. She wasn't talking about love, but about "power, alliance, taxes, and influence."
"Are you sure?" the Duke asked in a low, heavy voice. "Alistair is not a man who can be tamed. He will treat you as an enemy in his home."
Lilian smiled a mysterious smile, remembering his touch from the night before. "I have learned how to deal with monsters, Father. What matters now is our family's survival. Send your official approval today... before the Crown Prince changes his mind and tries to obstruct this terrifying alliance."
She walked out of the office, feeling the air begin to return to her lungs. She had succeeded in turning her "sin" into a "political sacrifice" in the eyes of her family. But she knew the truth lay in that silver wing, where the man who took her honor waited... and now intended to take her soul.