Chapter 1 ONE

The stone floor was cold, a familiar chill that seeped through the thin knees of my dress and into my bones. The scent of lemon polish and old dust filled my nose, a mundane perfume I’d come to know as well as my own breath. Scrub, rinse, wring. Scrub, rinse, wring. The rhythm was a mantra, a shield against the memories that threatened to surface. Here, in the lower halls of the Crimson Citadel, I was Liana. Just Liana. A maid. A ghost. A vessel for a vengeance that was a constant, low-burning ember in my chest.

A pair of polished black boots stepped into my peripheral vision, halting the progress of my scrub brush. I didn’t need to look up to know they belonged to one of the household guards.

"On your feet. Main hall. Now," the voice grunted. "The Lord is inspecting the staff."

The ember in my chest flared into a lick of raw, panicked flame. Lord Kaelen. Here. Now.

A sea of grey dresses and nervous whispers filled the grand hall. We were lined up like livestock, our heads bowed, our hands clasped. The air was thick with a fear so potent I could taste it, metallic and sharp on my tongue. I kept my gaze fixed on the intricate patterns of the marble floor, counting my heartbeats, forcing the dragon inside me to be still, to be small, to be human.

A hush fell, deeper and more profound than before. He had entered.

I risked a glance through my lashes. He moved through the hall not like a man, but like a storm contained in a human shape. Tall, dressed in severe black, his hair the colour of winter ash. His eyes, a piercing, pale grey I knew from my nightmares, scanned the lines of servants. They were the eyes of the man who had led the charge that destroyed my world. And they missed nothing.

He stopped before a young scullery maid named Anya. I’d seen her humming to herself just this morning, a fresh-faced girl who still believed in kindness.

"A silver spoon from the formal dining set is missing," Kaelen's voice was quiet, yet it carried to every corner of the hall, cold and flat. "It was noted in your care after the last polishing."

Anya trembled, her face as white as the starch in my apron. "My Lord, I… I don't… I would never…"

"Search her quarters," Kaelen said to the guard beside him, his tone utterly devoid of emotion. "And take her to the holding cells. We will ascertain the truth."

A whimper escaped Anya. The holding cells. No one came back from there the same, if they came back at all. This wasn't about a spoon. This was about power, about demonstrating the absolute cost of disloyalty, real or imagined. The injustice of it was a physical blow. This girl was a pawn, about to be crushed to make a point to the rest of us.

My mission was to be invisible. To watch, to wait, to plan for the Masquerade where I could strike from the shadows. Stepping forward now was madness. It was suicide.

But watching them drag that weeping girl away, her terrified sobs echoing in the silent hall, felt like another kind of death. The part of me that was still Elara of the Emberclaw, the part that valued justice and protection, roared to life.

My body moved before my mind could fully protest. One small step forward, breaking the perfect line of servants. The sound of my worn shoe on the marble was like a thunderclap.

Every eye in the hall swivelled to me. I felt the weight of their collective terror and curiosity. But I only felt the weight of his gaze.

He turned slowly. Those storm-grey eyes pinned me in place. "You have something to add, maid?"

I kept my own eyes locked on the floor, pouring every ounce of my will into appearing subservient. "I… I saw something, my Lord." My voice was a threadbare whisper.

"Speak."

I took a shaky breath. "Yesterday evening, I was fetching linens from the west wing storage. I saw… I saw Lord Malachi's valet, Stefan. He was in the alcove near the sunroom. He had the spoon. He was… polishing it." The lie felt heavy and dangerous on my tongue. I had seen Stefan in the west wing, but he was empty-handed, scurrying with a self-importance I now weaponized.

The silence that followed was thicker and more menacing than before. I had just accused a member of the ruling family's inner circle.

Kaelen took a step toward me. Then another. He began to circle me, a shark scenting blood in the water. I could feel the cold energy radiating from him, a chill that had nothing to do with the hall's temperature.

"You have sharp eyes for a floor scrubber," he murmured, his voice dropping so only I could hear its icy cadence. "And a bold tongue to accuse a member of my cousin's household. Tell me, why would you risk yourself for another?"

This was it. The most dangerous question. My mind raced. A plea for mercy would mark me as weak. A declaration of righteousness would mark me as a troublemaker. I had to be something else. Something useful.

I forced myself to look up, meeting his gaze for a single, heart-stopping second. The intensity in his eyes was staggering, a deep, frozen intelligence that saw too much.

"A broken tool is easily replaced, my Lord," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "But injustice is a crack in the foundation. It weakens the entire structure." I quickly bowed my head again, a show of deference. "I serve the Citadel."

He went completely still. I could almost hear the gears turning in his mind. This was not the answer he had expected. I had not appealed to his mercy, but to his logic. To his power.

He closed the distance between us. The scent of cold night air and old books, a strangely elegant combination, washed over me. His hand came up, and before I could flinch, his fingers were under my chin. His touch was like ice, but it sent a jolt of something entirely too warm through my veins. It was all I could do not to recoil, not to let the fire in my blood surge up to meet that cold.

He tilted my face up, forcing me to look at him. His gaze was searching, probing, stripping away the layers of my disguise. I prayed he only saw a pale, nervous maid with eyes that were too wide, not the dragon hiding beneath the skin, screaming in fury at his touch.

"Liana, is it?" he said, his voice still quiet, still only for me.

I gave a tiny, stiff nod, my throat too tight to speak.

"A philosopher maid," he mused, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "How… interesting."

He released my chin, and the absence of his touch was as startling as its presence. He turned to the head guard. "Release the girl. The matter is closed." His gaze swept over the rest of the staff. "Return to your duties."

As the crowd began to disperse in a hushed, bewildered rush, he looked back at me one last time. "You will be moved from the lower halls. Your sharp eyes might be of better use. You will serve in the upper library, dusting and maintaining the collections. Report there at dawn."

Then he was gone, sweeping out of the hall and leaving a vacuum of silence in his wake.

I stood frozen, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The other servants gave me a wide berth, their glances a mixture of awe and pity. I had done it. I had saved Anya. I had sowed a seed of discord between Kaelen and his scheming cousin.

And I had captivated the monster.

He had looked at me, truly looked at me, and instead of seeing a threat, he had seen a tool. An interesting one. He was pulling me closer, into the heart of his world, into the very den I had sworn to destroy.

I had wanted to get close to him. Now, I would be breathing the same air, touching the books he read, existing in his shadow.

A slow smile touched my lips, one that held no joy, only the cold, sharp edge of a honed blade. Let him draw me close. Let him think he had found a curious new pet.

He had just invited a dragon into his library.