Page 1 of Revert
CHAPTER 1
FIRST TIMELINE
Just a little farther.
My heart pounded erratically as I crept through the dark-shrouded corridor on silent tiptoe, the shadows my only witness for the crime I was about to commit. For all the years of preparation—the gathering of information, the meticulous planning, the mental fortitude required—I couldn’t shake the nerves coiling inside me.
Darkness posed no hindrance in this gilded labyrinth; I knew every intimate detail of every passage, had every patrol route committed to memory. I melted into the shadows at the faintest disturbance—any sign of movement, the slightest sound that interrupted the oppressive stillness. Yet these moments were surprisingly rare. All was quiet…almosttooquiet.
Even with my painstaking preparation, the mission’s ease within a court as formidable as Thorndale unsettled me. Thorndale was a kingdom built on traps and ruled through fear, its palace a prison, one for which even my betrothal to the crown prince did not grant me immunity.
Not for the first time, I wondered how Thorndale had come under such a dictatorial rule. My kingdom and most of the surrounding ones each had a unique government system, but allhad some system of checks and balances, unlike the kingdom that was to be my home for the foreseeable future.
My role as the future queen wouldn’t protect me were I caught somewhere forbidden. Mercy was an extinct notion in Thorndale, the punishment for traitors extending beyond even my darkest imaginings…a risk I had fully known when I undertook this dangerous mission, and one I had willingly accepted.
No cost would be too high, not when success was of the essence. Everything I’d worked for cumulated to this single moment…and I meant to finally seize it. I had come too far to turn back now, especially when the fate of countless people depended on me.
Shadows gathered about me, as abundant as the palace’s opulent drapery and decorative tapestries. Though I knew this horrible prison was no ally when the secrets I sought were buried deep within its very stones, I imagined the shadows as my companions in tonight’s espionage. Rather than frightening me, their presence made me feel less alone, offering shelter for every guard I encountered until their patrol took them past my hiding place.
Progress was slow, each movement measured and deliberate. The majority of the night had passed by the time I reached the farthest, fortress-like tower. The dank and musty air engulfed me, my fingertips grazing the stone as I descended. The darkness deepened, like something waited in the depths to consume me. But whatever dragon guarded this hoard of secrets I coveted, I would face it and overcome. Ihadto.
A tall, formidable door loomed at the landing, guarding the goal that had consumed me since long before I first entered this court of lies and intrigue. Even in darkness, I could see the shimmer of magic adorning its surface, wards placed to guard against intruders.
I drew a slow breath, both elated and terrified that I’d made it this far. This was the puzzle I had most dreaded, but I didn’t have time to wonder how I would overcome the enchantment when the unnatural ease that had shrouded the mission up until now abruptly concluded.
Footsteps echoed through the ominous silence—not from the stairs I had just descended, but from deeper within the dungeon. Someone had anticipated my arrival and been lying in wait. My heart dropped as I recognized the confident stride, similar to the heavy tread of the king I feared, but with a touch less weight.
I pressed myself against the wall, the cold of the stone seeping into my back. The darkness offered little protection, powerless to shield me against the the blood-draped monarchy that reigned through ruthlessness and fear. The glowing amber torchlight cut through the gloom, scattering the shadows that had once cloaked me, abandoning me to the intruder’s condemning light that illuminated my poor attempt to hide.
Not a monster, but instead someone far worse: the man I was to marry. I sucked in a sharp, horrified breath.Oh no.
Tension closed around me like a noose as he stared, his soulless dark eyes unreadable walls that masked every emotion, a master of concealment, as enigmatic now as the day we’d met. But I didn’t need to observe his concealed feelings to sense his displeasure at having caught me somewhere I shouldn’t have been.
The flickering torchlight did nothing to soften his face, his expression carved in stone, each severe line confirming I was doomed. It unsettled me how a man so serious and shrouded with rumor could be so devastatingly handsome—beauty befitting a predator to better lure in their prey, each sharp, serious feature a scar etched by darkness, a silent testament of his cruelty.
Despite our long courtship, I knew next to nothing about my fiancé, only the whispers that suited his dark aura far too well to be fiction, as if they had been crafted not from mere speculation but actual truth. To my chagrin, I instinctively tensed the way any prey would when cornered by a predator…in this case, the man I’d been doomed to marry for years.
It took a long time trapped in fear’s unrelenting grip to retrieve the voice that seemed to have fled with the retreating shadows. I forced a smile as stiff and unnatural on my lips as the charade I’d maintained throughout the endless duration of the prison sentence I’d endured.
“Good evening, Prince Castiel.” My voice wavered, betraying the fear I fought to suppress.
He didn’t return my greeting—Prince Castiel had never been one for the polite games of the royal court; he had no need for them when the kingdom bent to his will and that of the king. His silence weighed heavier than any reprimand.
Despite every reason I had not to trust him, I felt a flicker of relief that it was he who had found me—for while we shared no true relationship beyond the contract binding our futures, my title as his fiancée offered a shred more protection than if I’d been discovered by the king himself. To His Majesty, I was merely a pawn—one he would discard the moment I ceased to serve his ends.
Prince Castiel lifted a brow, an invitation to explain, but none of my premature excuses would be sufficient to talk my way out of such a condemning situation, not this time.
Throughout my lengthy sojourn as Thorndale’s prisoner, I had never grown accustomed to his formidable presence—the harsh, hardened lines of his expression; the fear that encased my heart like chains; the fear he commanded, even in silence. I had become a master in detecting the unspoken words in his silent stares, enough to understand now that it was all over.
I lowered my eyes in a gesture of humility and penance that at last prompted him to speak. “You came after all. You disappoint me—I thought you had more sense, Princess.” His voice was low, cutting, the words slicing through me with the same precision as the blade at his hip.
Whatever brittle courage I had feebly clung to crumbled beneath the weight of his scorn. My mask of careful poise and royal bearing cracked, and with it came a bitter curse I could no longer hold back. “Like everything else in Thorndale, tonight’s ease was just another illusion. I should have known.”
The outburst seemed to startle even him—his countenance remained stoic, but faint yet unmistakable surprise flickered in his eyes. “I’ve glimpsed that fire in you before. A pity you didn’t stoke it sooner; you might have stood a chance.” His voice softened, sounding almost regretful as he glanced down, as though assessing me. “You were clever, but unfortunately not clever enough to distinguish truth from a red herring.”
Horror seized my breath as his words settled over me, confirming my deepest fear: this had all been a trap. The realization struck in waves—first disbelief, then dread, and finally, something far colder—terror. The full weight of my failure crushed down upon me. The secrets were lost, the mission was ruined, and my life forfeit.
I was going to die, and Castiel—the man who had stood beside me at court, a stranger who had never truly spoken a word of comfort but whom I’d still hoped might one day be my ally—would be the one to end it all.
