Chapter 1

The third time the Hollow Mother called me back, I became the most perfect Queen Consort and sister anyone had ever seen.

All because I put away the arrogance of a highborn daughter and learned to make myself small, the way my half-sister Sera once did.

I secured three border territories for my family. I helped my brother Layne rise to First Chancellor.

I managed the king's court and its endless politics, and even organized the Blood Moon Feast myself, opening the doors for a new Shadowbound to be chosen.

When a woman appeared at the feast — her face identical to Sera's — wine splashed across Caelian's robes.

I understood immediately. I picked up the Shadowbound seal and pressed it into Lina's hand.

"No."

Two voices rang out at once.

Layne slammed his fist on the table and rose. "Sera may have stolen your place as queen, but she's been dust and bone for years. Who exactly are you performing this martyrdom for?"

Caelian's eyes had gone red at the rims. "I gave up half my kingdom to bring you back. I wanted the Elara who used to race me on horseback, who used to overturn my war table when she was furious — not this."

Then, in the silence behind my ribs, I felt it.

The mark on my wrist flared — not with heat, but with a sudden, deep cold.

The contract is active. When Layne and Caelian's devotion to another reaches its peak, you will return. Every pain you suffered will be returned to them. A hundredfold.

My fingers trembled slightly. I thought of everything I had endured, and I laughed — a quiet sound, almost to myself.

……

Caelian heard it. The laugh made his jaw tighten.

"What is so amusing? Are you still holding the demotion against me — when I stripped your title and kept you as a shadow — all to hold Sera closer?"

"She is dead now. I crossed half the world to bring you home. I want to start again. Why must you keep driving the blade in?"

I lowered myself into a curtsy, measured and unhurried, the way Sera used to.

"Your Majesty, forgive me. I only thought that Lina is so gentle and has such an accommodating nature. She would serve you well. I truly don't understand why you're upset."

I let a beat pass, then continued, my voice softer still.

"Unless her rank is the problem? Then perhaps the crown is what stands in the way."

I reached up and began to remove my crown. Clean. Decisive.

Caelian went rigid. Then he swept the goblet off the table.

"Enough."

"You want to call that grace and virtue? Fine. Your place as queen stands — I owe you that much and I won't touch it."

"By royal decree: Lina is named Shadow Consort. She will take residence in the East Wing. We are done here."

The moment Caelian left, the hall erupted.

"A minor lord's baseborn daughter, just because she shares the dead queen's face — and now she outranks every woman at court?"

"He never got over Sera. This new queen is furniture. She always was."

The whispers pressed in from every direction. I was still in my curtsy, my face perfectly still.

A warm hand lifted me gently to my feet. Layne's voice carried a note of something almost like concern.

"Elara. Playing cold like this will only push him further away."

"Lina has no family, no allies. She can't hurt you. I'll be your shield — I won't let her touch what's yours, and I won't let Caelian diminish you. You have my word."

"Then adopt her, Layne. Make her your ward."

His hand stopped.

"What did you say?"

I met his eyes steadily.

"Those courtiers were right. Lina has no standing. A Shadow Consort without a family name invites gossip forever. But if you claim her as yours, no one will dare speak against her again."

Layne stared at me for a long moment.

"Fine. If you're so determined to push us both away — consider it done."

He turned and walked out, his robes cutting the air behind him.

I watched them leave, one after the other, and smiled to myself.

If Lina's appearance hadn't caused the mark to spike the moment she walked in, I might almost have been moved by their wounded looks.

Back in my chambers, I stood surrounded by the gifts Caelian and Layne had sent — rare stones, silks, things with no name in common language.

All of it turned my stomach.

I had given my heart away twice before.

The first time, I was still the Morne family's true daughter, Layne's most beloved sister.

Then Sera came back from the countryside, and suddenly I was too loud, too rough, too often seen on battlefields instead of in drawing rooms.

He forgot that I had nearly died getting him out of an enemy siege.

When Sera fell gravely ill, and the healers said only the blood of her closest kin could draw out the poison, Layne bled me for three days until there was nothing left.

The second time, I was wiser. I stopped pouring myself out for Layne and turned everything I had toward Caelian instead — the younger prince, the overlooked one, the one no one had bothered to love.

I took blades for him. I spent every coin of my property greasing the wheels of his ascent.

I walked beside him through the worst years and helped him claim the crown.

And at his own father's funeral, he saw Sera across the room and fell in love with her on the spot.

I wept. I raged.

He severed the tendons in my hands to make me stop.

And then, because he wanted Sera to give him his first child, he had me drink the termination draught fifteen times.

This time, I don't want any of them.