Lucy's POV
The crystal wine glass slipped from my tray, and I watched it fall in slow motion toward Lady Ashford's very expensive shoes.
My hand shot out, catching it an inch from disaster. Wine sloshed dangerously close to the rim, but didn't spill. I steadied my breathing and put the glass on Lady Ashford's table, forcing my best servant smile. "Clumsy girl," she mumbled, not even looking at me.
I stepped back into the darkness of the Royal Ballroom, my heart still racing. That glass probably cost more than I made in a month. If I'd broken it, they would've taken it from my pay. Again.
Around me, the Winter Solstice Ball glowed with a thousand lights. Nobles laughed and danced under ice sculptures that somehow never melted. Magic sparked in the air, making my skin itch. Everyone was celebrating the longest night of the year like it was something special.
I hated every second of it. "Lucy!" My boss, Court Investigator Marcus Webb, waved me over to his corner. "Stop thinking and take notes. Lord Pemberton is talking about the land conflict."
I pulled out my paper, trying to focus on Lord Pemberton's boring speech about property lines. But my mind kept wandering to the hospital bill stuffed in my apartment drawer. Grandma needed medicine. Expensive drugs. The kind I couldn't afford even with double jobs.
The kind that meant I'd be working through this cursed vacation instead of visiting her.
Five years ago today, a voice whispered in my head. Five years since I shoved the thought down deep where it belonged. "Are you even listening?" Marcus hissed. "Yes, sir. Property issue. Northern border. Got it."
He frowned but turned back to the nobles. I scribbled notes I'd probably never use, just trying to look busy. That's what I was good at: being invisible. Lucy Hart, the poor helper nobody noticed.
Except that wasn't even my real name.
My real name died five years ago with everyone I loved.
A horn blared, making me jump. The entire hall fell silent. "Presenting His Majesty, Alpha King Stellan Voss!"
The doors at the far end opened, and he walked in.
I'd seen the king before, but only from a distance. Up close, he was somehow worse. Tall and made like a soldier, with silver-blue eyes that seemed to freeze everything they looked at. His face showed no feeling at all, not happiness, not boredom, nothing. Just cold calculation.
They called him the Ice King. Looking at him now, I understood why.
Every noble in the room bowed. I ducked my head with the other servants, watching from under my lashes as the king moved through the crowd. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. When Chancellor Dorian, his top advisor, tried to introduce him to a pretty noblewoman, the king's reaction was brutal. "Not interested."
Two words. That's all it took to make the woman's face turn red.
What shocked me was that I didn't see any red threads around him. My special ability, the curse I'd received from my dead pack, showed me lies as glowing red lines. Nobles were usually covered in them, fake praise and false promises floating around them like cobwebs.
But the king? Nothing. He was bluntly, coldly honest. "He's beautiful though," another servant whispered nearby. "Even if he's scary."
I didn't answer. Handsome or not, he was still royalty. Still part of the system that let my pack die without justice. The official report said rogues struck us. But I'd been there. I'd seen the royal crest on the attackers' clothes before I ran.
I'd seen a lot of things that night, and I wished I could forget. "Lucy, refill the wine table," Marcus ordered.
I grabbed a tray of bottles and headed toward the refreshment area, glad for something to do. The ball would last hours, and I still had papers afterward. Maybe I'd get three hours of sleep if I were lucky. "Well, well. If it isn't the palace rat."
I turned to find Lady Vivian Cross blocking my way. Beautiful and mean, dressed in a gown that cost more than my full year's salary. Her beautiful smile didn't reach her eyes.
Red threads glowed around her like angry snakes. "Excuse me, Lady Cross. I need to"
She stepped sideways, cutting me off. "You know, I think you're getting too comfortable here. Someone needs to tell you of your place."
Before I could respond, she bumped into me hard. The wine bottles flew from my tray, falling to the marble floor. Red fluids spread everywhere, looking too much like blood.
The music stopped. Everyone stared. "Oh my!" Vivian gasped, her hand over her mouth. More red threads emerged. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!"
Complete lie. She'd done it on purpose. "Clean that up quickly," Marcus snapped, his face red with embarrassment.
I dropped to my knees, picking up broken glass with my bare hands. A piece sliced my palm, but I didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Everyone was watching. Judging. Laughing.
This is your life now, I thought bitterly. Cleaning up mistakes for people who think you're trash. "Pathetic," someone muttered.
I finished cleaning and escaped to the palace archives, my safe place. The old library where nobody ever came. I sat on the floor between dusty shelves, pushing my bleeding hand against my uniform.
Five years. Five years of lying. Five years of trying to be someone else.
How much longer could I keep doing this?
That's when I heard voices from the restricted section, the place only council members could access. "Everything is ready for tomorrow night." That was Chancellor Dorian's smooth voice. "Once the king is tied, the council will have no choice. The Five Territories will be mine."
My breath caught. I pressed myself against the shelf, looking through a gap in the books.
Dorian stood in the darkness, talking to someone I couldn't see. Red threads burst around him like fireworks, so many lies I could barely see his face. "Are you certain the drug will work?" a woman's voice asked. Lady Vivian. "Positive. By midnight tomorrow, Stellan Voss will be exactly where we need him. And our little truth-seer problem will be eliminated forever."
Truth-seer. My blood turned to ice.
They knew. Somehow, they knew about my ability.
I needed to run. Needed to get out of there and escape. But my foot caught on my bag strap. I stumbled, knocking into the shelf.
Books tumbled to the floor with thunderous crashes. "Someone's there!" Vivian's voice turned sharp. "Guards!"
I ran. Footsteps pounded behind me as I raced through the archives, my heart trying to break through my ribs. I knew these sections better than anyone, all my late-night studying paying off.
I burst into a storage hallway and tried the first door. Locked. Second door. Locked.
The third door opened. I threw myself inside and locked it behind me, pushing my back against the wood. My whole body shook. "I know you're in there, little rat." Vivian's words came through the door, sweet as poison. "Guards, close this room. Make sure she thinks about her actions until morning." "What about the ball?" a guard asked. "Leave her. She's not important enough to matter."
Footsteps walked away. I tried the door, but it wouldn't move. Magic hummed around the frame, a sealing spell.
I was stuck.
I sank to the floor, hugging my knees. Through the tiny window, I could hear the Solstice celebration beginning outside. Music. Laughter. The countdown to midnight, when the Moon Goddess apparently blessed new bonds.
They were going to do something to the king tomorrow night. And they wanted to eliminate me forever.
I should've run years ago. Should've left the city the moment I'd healed from the massacre. But I'd stayed, hoping to find answers. Hoping to learn who really killed my pack.
Now I was going to die in a storage room, and nobody would even know I was gone.
Hours crawled by. My stomach growled. My hand throbbed where the glass had cut it. Outside, the party grew louder as midnight approached.
Then the door lock clicked.
I scrambled to my feet, ready to fight or run, I didn't know which.
The door swung open.
Alpha King Stellan Voss stood there, his silver-blue eyes finding me instantly in the darkness. "Are you alright?" He stepped inside, his voice less cold than before. Almost... concerned? "I was informed someone locked a staff member in here."
I couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Had the king come himself?
He held out his hand. "Come on. Let's get you."
Something moved behind him. A cloth appeared over his face from behind, pressed by hands I couldn't see. The king's eyes went wide with shock, then anger.
Before I could scream, someone grabbed me from the side. Another cloth pressed over my mouth and nose. Chemical sweetness filled my lungs.
The king fell beside me, fighting but already weakening.
Laughter rang through the storage room. Lady Vivian stepped into view, smiling her beautiful, terrible smile. "Sleep well, Your Majesty," she cooed. "When you wake up, everything will be different."
My view blurred. The room spun. I tried to fight, but my body wouldn't react.
The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was Stellan's hand reaching toward mine.
Then nothing.