By the time I returned to my chambers, it was late afternoon and I was exhausted.
Magic is DRAINING.
Who knew that commanding death would be tiring?
Oh wait. Everyone. Everyone knew that.
The maids were already waiting with a bath drawn and evening clothes laid out.
Right. The royal ball.
Another performance. Another stage.
Another opportunity to terrify nobles and make enemies.
Perfect.
I sank into the bath and the exhaustion should have dissolved but it DIDN'T.
Instead, my mind started RACING.
Prince Aldric will be there.
ALDRIC.
My fiancé who looked at the original Isabel like she was DIRT.
Who signed her execution order in every single route without HESITATION.
Who threw WINE in her face at the engagement ball and called her a disgrace to nobility.
The water was scalding but I barely felt it.
He's going to be there TONIGHT.
Expecting what? Pathetic Isabel? Desperate Isabel?
The girl who BEGGED for his attention?
My hands were shaking.
I've been planning this for days.
Every word. Every gesture. Every LOOK.
I know exactly what I'm going to say to him.
I know exactly how I'm going to DESTROY him.
The maids pulled me from the bath and I let them work in silence, my mind still spinning with images of Aldric's face—that contemptuous sneer, that cold dismissal, that absolute CERTAINTY that he was better than her.
Better than ME.
He thought he was BETTER.
They laced me into the corset and I felt it like ARMOR.
Good.
I NEED armor for this.
The gown slid over my head—deep purple, almost black, with silver embroidery forming ravens and thorns that looked like they could draw BLOOD if you touched them wrong.
Perfect.
This isn't a dress.
This is a WEAPON.
The sleeves ended in points that draped over my hands like claws. The neckline was cut to be daring without crossing into scandalous. Every detail was CALCULATED.
I'm not getting dressed.
I'm putting on a COSTUME.
I'm becoming the thing he's going to see in his NIGHTMARES.
They pinned my hair up with silver daggers—actual tiny daggers, sharp enough to hurt—and fastened the Raven family choker around my throat.
A collar.
A crown.
A THREAT.
Nyx slithered up my arm as the maids added the final touches—earrings shaped like ravens with amethyst eyes that matched mine exactly.
"You're vibrating again," Nyx observed, coiling around my shoulders.
"I'm FOCUSED," I said, and my voice came out sharper than I intended.
Focused on HIM.
On making him REGRET every moment of contempt.
On making him understand that he made a MISTAKE.
"You're obsessed," Nyx corrected. "You've been thinking about him for three days straight."
Have I?
Yes.
Yes, I absolutely HAVE.
Every training session, every conversation, every quiet moment—
I've been planning what I'm going to SAY to him.
How I'm going to make him FEEL what she felt.
"He deserves it," I said.
"I didn't say he didn't," Nyx replied. "I'm just observing that you're walking into that ballroom with murder in your eyes."
Not murder.
Worse.
I'm going to make him wish it was just MURDER.
I turned to face the mirror and—
Oh.
Oh FUCK.
The woman staring back at me didn't look beautiful.
She looked DANGEROUS.
She looked like DEATH wearing a ball gown.
The purple fabric made my skin look pale as bone. The silver embroidery caught the light like knife edges. The choker sat at my throat like a collar made of shadows. And my eyes—
My eyes look HUNGRY.
Predatory.
Like I'm about to DEVOUR someone.
Nyx's scales shimmered against the dark fabric, a living necklace of menace and ancient power.
This is what he's going to see.
Not desperate Isabel.
Not pathetic Isabel.
ME.
The thing that's been WAITING for him.
My hands were still shaking but not from fear.
Anticipation.
This is ANTICIPATION.
I've been waiting for this moment since I woke up in this body.
Since I realized what he DID to her.
What he's going to TRY to do to me.
"You look like you're about to start a war," Nyx observed.
I smiled at my reflection and it was NOT a nice smile.
Not a war.
An EXECUTION.
His.
I took one last look at myself—at the weapon I'd become, at the nightmare I was about to unleash on an unsuspecting prince—and felt absolute CERTAINTY settle in my chest.
This is it.
This is where everything changes.
This is where I stop being the villainess he EXPECTS—
And become the one he'll never FORGET.
I walked toward the door, Nyx coiled around my shoulders, my heart pounding with something that felt like fear and fury and HUNGER all mixed together.
Prince Aldric Solcrest.
I hope you're ready.
Because I've been thinking about you for THREE DAYS.
And tonight?
Tonight I'm going to show you exactly what happens when you underestimate a Raven.