Chapter 1
I tried not to, but I couldn’t help it. A scream tore from my throat, sharp enough to shatter glass. It was there—I knew it was there. But now, I could feel it standing over me, claws gleaming, teeth bared.
I could have saved her. I should have. But I didn’t. And now, she was gone.
It all started with the wretched Henrick La Croix—the man who chose my fate, who tore my family apart and brought me to my knees. Yet through it all, I still had Marie Thérèse Louise. We were only fifteen, but we had dreams, plans—marriage at twenty-one, a future together. Until the revolution stole everything.
I am just Fredrick. Plain, ordinary Fredrick. Not a princess like Marie. And though she loved me, I always felt like I would never be enough.
When the revolution turned against her, we ran—Marie, the endangered princess, and I, her unlikely companion. Even those closest to her—the smiling lady-in-waiting, the loyal servants—had betrayed her. There was nowhere left to turn. So we fled to England, a land we were told would be safe.
We gathered what little we had, mounted our horses, and rode into the night, never looking back.
As the darkness thickened, exhaustion slowed our pace. We stopped beneath an ancient oak, where we let the horses rest and lay beneath the stars. Maybe—just maybe—we would make it to England.
But then, in the dead of night, a breath ghosted against my neck.
I woke with a start.
And as my eyes adjusted to the shadows, I found myself staring into a familiar face—one I had long thought lost.
Jean-Pierre. My brother.
“Hello, Brother,” he hissed.
The gun in his hand was not aimed at me.
It was aimed at Marie.
Fear swirled around me like a storm.
Was this the end?
