1 Prologue

The cold feel of the scissors brushing against my neck finally brought me out of the shock I'm in, and I stare at the hair that has accumulated around my feet. The barber is quiet as he snips away at my once glorious mien of blue-black hair, one of the rarest colors in the Kingdom, as he reduces it to nothing but trash on the floor. Once, I would have cried at the heresy. But I have long drained all the tears left within me.

The scissors continue to snip until all that's left of my hair is the short bob the barber deigned fit to behead me in. The sackcloth that serves as my clothes is terribly itchy. It falls above my ankles, a little too short to be truly decent, but I was going to be publicly executed today, and the added humiliation of me in sackcloth was apparently necessary.

Today, in just a few moments, I will die. They will cut off my head with a guillotine. My crime? The attempted assassination of the King of Solaris, Adonis Thaddeus Helios Sol.

"Up," said the barber, almost gently. He was finished cutting my hair.

The death march lasted but a few minutes. I was completely pliant as one of the guards took my arm and lead me to the execution block. As I emerged into the courtyard, the sky bled grey and ominous, as if it was about to cry in witness to this atrocity.

I did not deserve to die.

In the stands, nobles and aristocrats looked down on me with mixed emotions, but I saw that most looked on with pity. My tragic tale was not a secret.

Finally, my gaze turned to the King. He was seated right in front of me, but a few meters away, up in the stands. His throne had been moved in witness to this event. To his right, where I usually sat, was Queen Alleandra, the King's one true love. She looked pale and worried, her brown eyes averted from mine. She was the picture of discomfort. She and the King seemed to be talking as if she was trying to convince him to stop this farce.

Finally, she closed her eyes and turned to him for comfort. The King placed his hand on her waist. Our eyes met.

He smiled.

I couldn't help it. Tears started to gather at the corners of my eyes. Something broke inside me, and I began to laugh.

"Ha! Hahaha!" I laughed as I was pushed into the object of my doom.

With a clap of thunder and a vicious streak of light against the sky, the heavens broke open. It began to rain as they pushed my neck against the notch in the guillotine.

"For her crimes against the Kingdom, against the Sun of the Empire, King Adonis Sol-" began a distant voice.

You son of a bitch.

"Lunaria Vaughn Nox is hereby sentenced to death via beheading!"

My only crime...

"Henceforth, all her titles and her lands are stripped from her and House Nox!"

...was loving you.

"So decrees the Sun of the Empire. Long live the King!"