CHAPTER 1
Serena and Leo were anything but lovers. No—they couldn't be anything but lovers.
"Why did you kill Lord Marshal Leo Bastien?" The inspector questioned.
Serena, smeared in blood, tapped her fingers against the cold metal table of the unfriendly investigation room.
Her lips stretched wide, shooting the inspector an unnerving smile. "Well…" The cuffs clamped around her wrist scraped against the table as she leaned back into her chair. "Where did it all start?"
She began her story
.
.
.
Seven months ago.
The entire country was burning under suffocating tension: The king had died without naming an heir. The court of nobles, the church, and reformists were all now vying for power.
However, none of that could compare to the tension that hung over the dining.
Serena sat on the oak table that stretched before her, her black dress contrasting her porcelain skin.
She chewed on the meat that tasted stale in her mouth. Maybe she would have enjoyed the dinner, if her half brother wasnt sitting across from her. Maybe if he didn't have that coy smile like a prick who's about to win the lottery.
And also they never had dinner together, not unless she was about to become a pawn in his game.
Henry broke the silence. "You must have heard of the Alliance, I assume?" He swirled the red wine in his glass. "The noble houses are banding together against the reformist and the church." He sipped from the wine.
Serena said nothing. Just chewed and swallowed. Politics was not her place. This house of Thalion didn't raise its women to speak. Just nod like puppets and dress like dolls.
"We'll need to send representatives to a house of noble." he continued, his words slurred by the meat in his mouth. "You'll be going to the house of Bastien."
Serena's breath hitched, and her fingers froze mid-slice. Silently drawing in breath, she willed her expression to remain blank as that was the only power she had left. The only thing she could control in her life.
She remained silent for a while, before picking a napkin and wiping her mouth clean, completely aware of Henry's eyes following her movements.
Belying the knots in her stomach, she asked, her voice as calm as self-restraint allowed. "Why me? Why not your 'men' who actually understand politics?"
Henry's lips twitched. Almost a smile. "Only a woman can do this job."
Her stomach dropped. He didn't need to explain further, she already knew.
Picking up the napkin, Henry wiped his mouth. "You're going to seduce the head of Bastien's house. Make him fall in love with you and bear his child." His voice too smooth for the command.
His words burnt her, and an acrid feeling coiled in her chest. "I just lost my husband." The words snapped out of her throat. "It's barely a month, and I am still grieving. I…"
Henry cut her off with a chuckle. One that mocked her ears. "Oh, come on now. You and I know you never loved him."
"I did," she gritted. It's not like she had a choice.
Henry scoffed. "Well, your feelings aren't part of my plan…"
"I'm not going," Serena interrupted, earning a death stare from him. But she didn't care. "No." Serena shook her head as she battled with the painful memories of her past. "You've already sold me once. You threw me into the hands of a stranger, and sent me to a faraway land, saying it was for the benefit of the house. What about what benefits me?"
Like he was bored, he rolled his eyes. "I'm not selling you off this time, nor am I sending you far away." He dragged his gaze back to her. "The plan is simple. You go there. You seduce him. Once you're with his child, you'll kill him, then we'll have a claim through bloodline and access to their forces."
Serena's eyes blew wide like something terrifying was in the room with her. Yes, it was. Her brother was.
The way he discussed the poison she would use to end Lord Bastien's life like it was a screenplay and not real life.
"All this for what?" A ghost of a sound threaded out her lips.
"For his military." Henry stared blankly at the white wall across from him. A smile lined his lips as he could already imagine the army beneath the Thalion banner—a green flag with a stag.
She couldn't believe he still had this dream. The boy of a servant who was seen as nothing by other nobles. Always told he was never enough. Always trying to prove he could be—more to himself that anyone else.
Killing a noble was punishable by death. She had a son, the only thing she got from her previous marriage after Henry had hijacked her ex-husband's businesses and wealth.
But whatever mad fantasies he had, she wasn't going to be a part.
"I wouldn't do it." Serena rose to her feet, the chair scraping against the floor.
Henry stood too. "What did you say?" His voice plunged to a dark octave.
Before the words left her lips, the slap came. Hard. Fast. Unforgivably painful. Her head snapped sideways, and she stumbled to the floor.
Pain burnt on her cheeks, and blood filled her mouth, coating her tongue with its metallic taste.
His eyes burning with anger, he lowered and clamped his finger around her chin, bruising her skin.
"You'll do as you told, you whore," he hissed, "you've got no use, Serena. Aside from your pretty face, what else can you offer?"
A thousand things if they had let her. If they had allowed her to show even a tip of her intelligence.
But all she could do was glower at him.
"Make yourself useful. You leave in two days." He patted her head and rose to his feet. "Also I'll be keeping your son. You can't take the bastard to another man's house, can you?"
They both knew that wasn't the only reason. He needed a leash on her, and her son was the perfect tool. The only thing she loved more than her freedom. More than her life.
Like a sadist who derived pleasure from her suffering, a vile smile burnt on his lips, before he turned and walked away.
Serena remained on the floor, her fist balling against the cold tiles. She wanted to scream, to throw a chair across the dining, anything to quench the heat simmering beneath her skin.
But she didn't. For silence and fake obedience was her weapon. The only weapon she had in the house of Thalion—even though she was born of her father and his lawful wife. But because she was born a woman, that illegitimate prick held more power than she ever could.
*****
Two days came like a thief in the night—merciless, and Serena found herself on the other side of the country, her carriage before the house of Bastien.
She wasn't even allowed to hold her son before she left, but whichever way it was, she had to push forward. Henry's greed demanded that.
She had left with a servant.
Serena stepped from her carriage, her black silk gown ghosting over the stone as she walked. Cruelly, the corset cinched her waist, stealing her freedom to even breathe properly. It was Henry's order.
The door swung open, and a man stepped out. Tall, dark brown hair, green eyes, broad shoulders. Power clung onto him like it was part of his well-tailored suit.
He drew closer, towering before her. He didn't bow to take her hands as courtesy demanded, rather he stared down at her, his gaze hostile.
"Serena Thalion."
With a smile, She wore her mask perfectly well. "Aaron Bastien."
Standing before her was the head of the house of Bastien. The man she was supposed to seduce, bear his child, and then kill.
Aaron already had a frown on his face. "I'm already aware of your brother's plan."
Brother? She hated the ring of it.
Serena was very sure Aaron wasn't aware of the brother's plan. He might have thought of her as a normal spy.
Memories of her past clawed to the surface as her gaze swept across the mansion.
'Was Leo here?' Serena thought, a heaviness coiling in her chest.
She knew he hated cold formalities, unlike his older brother.
She hadn't seen him in seven years. Not since they were torn apart. But she prayed he wasn't. She didn't want him to see her like this. The horrible woman her half-brother had turned her into.
Serena dragged her gaze back to Aaron, tipping her chin. "What if I tell you I came with my own plan."