Chapter 1

The Crown Prince, Edward Lancaster, once swore he would never marry anyone but me. For five years, I believed him.

But then his cousin, Lillian Hart, arrived in Valdrada, and he began to avoid me.

It was not until much later that I learned the truth. During those same five years, he had been escorting Lillian on journeys through the countryside.

He said, "Lillian has always been delicate. It is my duty to watch over her."

He forgot the date of our wedding ceremony, yet he remembered to take her to the Luminaria Fair.

Consumed with rage, I abandoned everything I had ever known and fled to Vastmarch, where I married the stern general whose name was spoken only in respectful tones.

Five years passed before I returned to Valdrada, and there, at the very gates of the palace, I came face to face with Edward once more.

I dipped into a curtsy. "Greetings, Your Highness."

His eyes reddened at the rims. "Did you ever read my letter?"

Before I could speak, a cold voice rose from behind me. "Does it truly matter whether she read it or not?"

*****

Edward once swore he would never marry anyone but me. For five years, I believed him.

It all began the year I came of age, when he made that promise beneath the canopy of a flowering apple tree.

Now, five springs have come and gone in Valdrada. The orchard blossoms have bloomed and fallen like snow, year after year.

And I had been transformed from a naive girl into the polished and much-admired young lady of the Royal Preceptor's household, Charlotte Sinclair.

All I lacked was his formal word and a wedding, and I would become his Crown Princess.

Everyone declared we were a match made in heaven.

He was the Crown Prince, and I was the daughter of the Royal Preceptor.

Our family names were impeccable, our appearances praised in equal measure, and everyone believed we were perfect for one another.

I used to believe we would be the happiest couple in all the kingdom.

But then his frail, distant cousin Lillian appeared in Valdrada, and from that moment on, everything shifted like sand beneath my feet.

Edward began to distance himself from me.

At first, he simply shortened our visits, always claiming he was buried beneath a mountain of affairs, asking me to be patient.

I believed him. He was the Crown Prince, after all, destined to shoulder the weight of the entire realm. It was only natural that he would be occupied.

But soon after, he stopped making any effort to see me at all.

Every invitation I sent to his residence vanished as a stone dropped into a dark well. There was no reply, no acknowledgment, nothing.

The pastries I baked with my own hands were sent over, only to be returned to me untouched.

His servants always offered the same refrain that the Crown Prince was far too consumed with affairs of state to spare even a single moment for anything else.

Though a knot of unease tightened in my stomach, I kept inventing excuses for him.

One day, I waited for him in the marble gazebo at the heart of the palace gardens.

I sat there from the moment the sun reached its peak until it melted into the horizon, but he never came.

On the journey back to my father's estate, I caught sight of his carriage, stationed outside a secluded manor.

It was the retreat that the King had granted Lillian for her healing.

I watched Edward dismount, his expression softening into a tender smile I had not seen in far too long.

In his hands, he held a box of marzipan sweets from The Gilded Spoon, my own favourite confectionery.

Gently, he assisted Lillian down the stone steps, ensuring her every comfort in tenderness.

In that moment, it felt as though a thousand tiny needles were piercing my heart.

The following day, I could bear it no longer. I stepped directly into his path as he walked towards his residence. "Your Highness."

When he saw me, a flicker of alarm crossed his face. "Charlotte, whatever are you doing here?"

"Had I not appeared, would you have simply continued avoiding me forever?" My voice trembled.

Edward frowned and drew me aside to a private alcove. "Charlotte, you are reading far too much into this.

"Lillian has always been of a delicate constitution. She has never acclimated to the air here in Valdrada, and as her cousin, it is my obligation to care for her."

I wanted to laugh, but the sound would not come. "We are betrothed, yet you spend every waking hour with another woman. Does that seem in any way proper?

"It is one thing to offer your cousin protection, Your Highness, but there are boundaries that must be observed."

Edward's face tightened with impatience. "I have told you, she is fragile.

"Charlotte, you have always been so reasonable. Why are you making such a scene today?"

There it was again. I had heard that word so often over the past five years that my ears had grown numb to it.

Because I was reasonable, I was expected to make excuses for his perpetual busyness.

Because I was reasonable, I was forced to endure his endless broken promises.

And now, because I had always been the reasonable one, was I simply meant to stand by and watch him bestow everything good he possessed upon another woman?

Bit by bit, my heart turned to ice.

"Your Highness, our wedding is set for next month," I reminded him.

He froze for a heartbeat, then dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I am aware. The Master of Ceremonies is managing all the arrangements. You need only focus on preparing yourself to be my bride.

"Tomorrow, I shall come to call upon you at your home without fail."

He tossed the promise over his shoulder and hurried away, as though I were something burning his hands he could not put down quickly enough.

I stood motionless, watching his retreating figure, and my heart felt more hollow than it ever had before.

That very night, I saw his carriage stationed outside Lillian's residence again.

He had sworn he would visit me the next day, yet I watched him walk through Lillian's gate after parting with me. He remained there the entire night.

I sat awake until dawn, waiting for him. But the next day, Edward did not come. Nor the day after that.

His servants arrived with a message that Edward had caught a chill and was not receiving any visitors.

Even the herbal draught I prepared was sent back untouched, as always.

The staff glanced at me with poorly concealed pity in their eyes.

My father let out a heavy sigh. "Charlotte, Edward is the Crown Prince. There are some matters you must learn to endure."

My mother took my hand, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "My poor child."

I uttered not a single word. I merely managed a small, fragile smile.

For five years, enduring was all I had ever done.

I believed that if I could endure long enough to reach our wedding day, everything would fall into place as it should.

I never imagined I would not even make it as far as the altar.