Page 19 of The Beautiful Blade

Her hand.

For three years, I had lived in the echo of that moment, trapped in the memory of her fingers tangled with mine, her warmth grounding me right before they ripped us apart. In my mind, I was still holding her hand. I had never let go.

The scent of flowers wafted into the room before she stepped through the doors. It wasn’t her usual fragrance. Not the warm, familiar blend of lavender and soft earth that had lingered in my memories for years. This was sharper, sweeter, like a bouquet arranged to impress rather than comfort. My nose twitched, my instincts prickling.

Maybe she’d changed. I was no longer the fragile boy I’d been when we’d met. My body bore the marks of every battle fought, my muscles carved from years of hardship and survival. Even as I told myself that people could change, something about that scent scratched at the back of my mind like an itch I couldn’t reach.

“If you don’t want to be queen, all you need to do is scream,” I said, my voice low, testing.

She was veiled. Adorned in white. Her gown flowed like liquid moonlight. “Are you going to bite me now?”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. That wasn’t Charlotte's voice. “Remove the veil.”

Her fingers curled into the fabric, clutching it tightly. “Human custom dictates it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding day.”

I knew her hands, every delicate line, every callus from years of secret work with tools and weapons. These hands were different. This wasn't my Charlotte. She might as well have been a troll.

The fury that I’d kept buried roared to life. I moved without thinking, my body a blur as I lunged forward to rip the veil away myself.

“Do not touch her.”

Adom's hand shot out. Deadly claws clamped around my neck with a vise-like grip. The pressure was immediate, cutting into my air and sending a sharp pulse of pain down my spine.

“Something isn’t right,” I choked out, my voice strained as Adom’s grip tightened.

My dark eyes darted past him to the veiled figure pressed against the door. Her back was flat against the wood as though she could vanish into it. Charlottenever cowered, not even the one time in her life she'd been scared.

This wasn’t her—it couldn’t be.

“Show yourself.” I braced for her to run, ready to give chase if she did.

“It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. I was trying to honor your father’s human customs, Your Highness.”

Adom’s gaze shifted from me to her. The change in his focus made him loosen his grip on my throat. I staggered back, dragging in a ragged breath as the room spun for a moment.

“Leave us,” Adom said, his voice a cold command.

“Adom—”

“Now.”

A thousand protests screamed in my mind. In the end, I obeyed, retreating from the room. My feet carried me to the garden, though my mind was already circling back to that door, to that veiled imposter. That wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been.

Could it?

I paced the garden like a caged animal, my thoughts tearing at me. Could Charlotte have changed so much in three years? Could she have forgotten me entirely?

My heart rebelled at the thought. Logic whispered cruel possibilities. She was a princess. I was nothing. Of course, she’d forgotten me.

But no. I refused to believe it. Not my Charlotte. In order for me to believe it, she’d have to tell me herself.

Movement caught my eye up the castle wall. The flicker of a figure in the window above me made my pulse spike. It was her. Or was it?

I didn’t stop to think. My hands found purchase on the rough stone. I climbed, the muscles in my arms burning as I pulled myself upward.

The window creaked open as I swung myself over the ledge. My breath came in sharp bursts, but not from the climb. There she was—without the veil this time. Her hair had Charlotte’s lavender hues, her skin the same soft tones. But the rest of her…

It was not the pert nose I’d memorized. That was not the slope of her shoulders. Those were not the wings I’d traced as she slept in my arms.

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