Cassian's POV
The servants started at five in the morning and they didn't stop.
There were three of them, women Cassian had never seen before. They moved through his chamber like they'd done this a thousand times. Brushes and combs and bottles of things that smelled like flowers and chemicals. They didn't talk to him. Didn't ask questions. Just worked.
One of them started on his face while another began his hair. The third laid out clothes across his bed. Seraphina's clothes. Everything perfectly tailored to fit the body of a princess.
Cassian sat in a chair and let them transform him.
The makeup went on in layers. Foundation that matched his skin exactly. Powder that made everything smooth and perfect. A woman with steady hands drew lines around his eyes, making them bigger, rounder. More feminine. More like Seraphina's. She used products that Cassian had only ever seen his sister wear. Stuff that cost more than most people made in a month.
His hair was already the same length as hers. Long and dark and straight. But they styled it differently. Added waves with hot irons. Pinned sections up to frame his face. Wove tiny jewels through the strands that caught the light like stars.
The whole time, Cassian stared at his hands. They were shaking. He kept them in his lap so nobody would notice. Kept them hidden like he was hiding everything else.
"You have her face," one of the servants said. It was the only thing any of them had said in an hour. The woman sounded almost awed. "I thought it would be obvious. I thought we'd see the difference immediately. But you could be her twin."
Cassian wanted to laugh. It came out as a broken sound that made all three servants go very still.
Because of course they were identical. They were twins. Born the same night, from the same mother, with the same blood. The only difference was that Seraphina had gotten strength and Cassian had gotten nothing.
The clothing came next.
Traveling clothes for a princess. A blue dress that cost more than a soldier's annual salary. Undergarments of silk. A coat lined with fur. Boots that fit perfectly because they'd been made specifically for Seraphina. When Cassian pulled on the boots, his feet felt like they belonged to someone else.
Everything smelled wrong. Or rather, everything smelled like his sister. Like her perfumes and her life and everything he was supposed to become.
The final thing was the perfume.
One of the servants uncorked a bottle and the smell was overwhelming. Heavy and floral and absolutely perfect for masking the weak Alpha scent that came off Cassian's body. The scent that made everyone look at him with disappointment. The scent that screamed to the entire world that he wasn't strong enough to be what he was supposed to be.
She sprayed it across his neck and wrists and chest. Over and over until the smell of Seraphina was all that remained.
"Now look," one of the servants said, gesturing toward the mirror.
Cassian stood and turned toward his reflection.
His sister was staring back at him.
It wasn't an exaggeration. It wasn't poetic language or metaphor. The person in the mirror looked exactly like Princess Seraphina. Same dark hair. Same pale eyes. Same face that half the kingdom loved and the other half envied. He reached out and touched the mirror and his reflection reached back.
For a moment, Cassian couldn't remember which one was real.
"You're perfect," one of the servants whispered. "The prince won't know the difference."
Cassian wanted to tell her that she was wrong. That there were infinite differences. That his sister had strength and courage and everything he lacked. That putting on a dress and makeup didn't make him anything except a fraud in his sister's clothes.
But he didn't say any of that.
Instead, he nodded and let them lead him downstairs.
The carriage was waiting in the courtyard. It was enormous, draped in the colors of the North. Red and gold and white. Beautiful and ostentatious and impossible to miss. The kind of carriage that screamed royalty to everyone who saw it.
Guards stood at attention. Twenty of them. All Alpha males who'd been chosen because they were strong and loyal and stupid enough not to ask questions. Cassian climbed into the carriage on shaking legs and sat on velvet cushions that cost more than most people's houses.
Elias was already there, dressed as a handmaid. She was shorter than he was now, had bound her chest to hide her shape, and had changed her hair. But it was her. Cassian could always recognize Elias.
She reached over and squeezed his hand without saying anything. No words. Just pressure. Just contact. Just the knowledge that he wasn't completely alone in this nightmare.
The carriage lurched forward.
Cassian looked out the window and watched his kingdom disappear.
The first day of travel was the worst because Cassian kept waiting for someone to realize the truth. Kept waiting for a guard to look at him and see through the makeup and perfume and dress. Kept waiting for someone to point and shout and expose everything.
Nobody did.
They stopped at small villages where people came to see the princess. Cassian had to sit up straight and wave and smile like Seraphina would smile. He'd watched his sister do this a thousand times. The practiced tilt of her hand. The gentle curve of her lips. The way she made everyone feel like she actually cared about them even though she was performing every second.
Cassian was a better actor than he thought.
By the second day, he'd almost started to believe his own performance. The guards treated him like he was fragile. The servants treated him like he was important. A woman at an inn actually pressed a child forward and said, "Look. It's the princess. You'll remember this day forever."
Cassian looked at that child and felt something twist inside his chest.
Elias caught him during a stop to change horses.
"You're doing good," she whispered, handing him water. "Better than good. Nobody suspects anything."
"That's the problem," Cassian replied. His voice sounded different now. He'd been practicing Seraphina's voice for six hours straight. The softer tones. The careful way she rounded her words. It was becoming automatic. "The better I do this, the easier it becomes to forget who I really am."
Elias's expression shifted into something painful.
"You're still you," she said. "Under all of that. The real you is still in there, Cassian. It doesn't matter what clothes you wear or whose voice you use. You're still the person I've known for my whole life."
Cassian wanted to believe her.
The third day was when everything started to feel real.
The landscape changed. The frozen northern mountains gave way to green valleys. The weather got warmer. The air smelled different. Less like snow and ice and more like growing things. Like places where things were alive and thriving and didn't struggle just to survive.
By sunset, the palace of Golden Vale appeared on the horizon.
Cassian's breath stopped.
It was massive. Impossibly massive. Made of golden stone that caught the light like it was on fire. Towers that reached toward the sky. Gardens that stretched out in every direction. It looked like a place that belonged to gods, not humans. A place where broken Alphas definitely didn't belong.
The carriage slowed as they approached the outer gates.
Guards in different colors lined the road. Southern guards. Guards of the kingdom Cassian was about to marry into. Guards who would kill him if they found out the truth.
Cassian's hands were shaking again.
He pressed them flat against the velvet cushions so nobody would see. Elias was watching him with concern written all over her face.
"The palace is beautiful," Elias whispered.
Beautiful. Yes. That was one way to describe it.
Another way was a cage.
The carriage pulled through the gates and into a courtyard crowded with people. Nobles in fine clothes. Servants in plain ones. Musicians playing celebratory songs. Everyone had come to see the bride arrive. Everyone wanted to look at the princess who was about to marry their crown prince.
Everyone was about to look at Cassian and see exactly what he was pretending to be.
The guards opened the carriage door. Cassian took a deep breath that smelled like Seraphina's perfume. He straightened the dress. He arranged his face into the expression he'd been practicing. The gentle, nervous smile of a girl about to marry a stranger.
He stepped out onto the red carpet they'd rolled out for the princess.
Thousands of eyes turned to look at him.
And in that moment, Cassian understood something terrible. This wasn't a performance anymore. This wasn't play-acting or pretense. This was real. Every single person looking at him believed he was Seraphina. Every single person had expectations. Every single person wanted things from this bride.
In two days, he would have to marry Crown Prince Damian Vale.
In two days, he would have to share a bed with a stranger.
In two days, his entire life would become a lie so complete that he might never remember what the truth even looked like.
A tall woman in royal clothes stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"Welcome, Princess Seraphina," she said. "I am Queen Helena. My son has been waiting for this day with great anticipation."
Something in the way she said it made Cassian's skin crawl.
The woman was studying him too carefully. Like she was looking for something. Like she was trying to see through the makeup and the dress and the perfume to the person underneath.
Cassian's heart started beating so fast he thought it would break his chest.
And then he saw him.
A man stepped out from the crowd of nobles. Tall and broad and radiating power like it was a physical thing. Dark hair. Dangerous eyes. An expression so controlled it looked like a mask.
Crown Prince Damian.
He was looking directly at Cassian.
And the look on his face said he knew something was wrong.