Mindless horror overtook me. I tried to run to my father, but the guards restrained me. Desperate, I turned back to the king. “My father has served you and your family for years,” I said, my voice raw with fear. “Why would you do this?”

“Because he can serve a greater purpose now,” King Garrett said. “Can’t you, Daniel?”

I strained against the guards’ hold. “But this plan makes no sense. Why would Prince Ares want to marry someone like me?”

“The prince isn’t going to be marrying Veliah, daughter of a blacksmith,” King Garrett said. “He’s going to be marrying Ophelia, princess of the Oceanic Empire.”

My confusion only deepened at this response. Is that what he meant by being family now? “But that’s not me—who would possibly believe that? Princess Ophelia is your only daughter.”

The king scoffed. “Yes, and there’s no way I would allow a vampire to wed my precious little girl. Do you think I’m the kind of bastard who’d condemn my own daughter to such a fate?”

I tightened my jaw, cold fury joining my fear. No, I thought. You’re the kind of bastard who’d condemn someone else’s daughter to that fate.

“From now on,” the king explained, “you will be Princess Ophelia.”

And finally I understood. I recalled the advisor who’d commented on my likeness to the princess, and a well of terror opened in my stomach. The king had promised Princess Ophelia, but he meant for me to pretend to be her.

“That’s preposterous,” I managed at last. “I’m nothing like the princess! The prince would never believe it.”

The king drew his sword. “If Prince Ares learns the truth, the royal family can always find another blacksmith.”

The guards pushed my father to his knees as the king approached him. An involuntary scream left my throat, a wordless plea that was ignored. My father looked up at me, tears glittering in his eyes. “Don’t worry about me, Vel,” he said. “Let them kill me. Don’t agree to this.”

“No,” I choked out. I couldn’t let my father die, not when there was something I could do to prevent it. He was all I had.

We’d been so close since my mother’s death that the thought of losing him was intolerable. But grief wasn’t the only trial my family would face. Without my father, the blacksmith shop would go to my brother, who wouldn’t be able to run it. The business would collapse after my father had worked so hard to build his blacksmith shop so Finneas and I would have something in the future…

No, if my father were gone, Finneas would gamble away what little we had and drink himself into oblivion. He’d end up penniless on the streets or dead in a ditch. In spite of my brother’s vices, I loved him, and I couldn’t bear the idea of such a bleak future for him. My father’s death would doom the rest of my family.

I looked back at the king, my heart racing. There was no way out of this. But I realized that the king had selected me for a reason, which meant he needed me. It wasn’t much bargaining power when my father’s life was on the line, but I had to at least try.

The king raised his sword. “Well? What will it be?”

I took a deep breath and let my eyes fall shut. “All right. I’ll agree to whatever plan you have…but only if you guarantee that you’ll let my father go.”

“Vel, no,” my father whispered.

King Garrett lowered his sword. “I can’t be rash,” he said. “If I let him go, there’s still the risk that you’ll try to escape again.”

“Then let’s compromise,” I said. “Let me take my father home. You can have guards follow us and keep eyes on us the whole time. Just give me a chance to say goodbye to my father and brother.”

The king paused for a beat, then nodded. “I’ll allow it.” He turned to the guards. “Release them.”

I sagged with relief as the guards let me go and unshackled my father. I rushed to his side, and he nearly collapsed into my arms, weeping. “I’m sorry, my sweet girl. I didn’t want this for you. There must be another way.”

His tears threatened to bring on my own. I pushed them back, telling myself that I had to be strong. “I would do anything to spare your life,” I said, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek.

I helped him stand, and the guards escorted us to the door. Then a thought occurred to me, and I turned back to the king. “At least answer me this: Why me? There are other girls you could pass off as your daughter.”

The king fell quiet for a moment. “You have the right lineage,” he said at last. “After all, your mother was a decorated soldier who gave her life to protect the crown.”

The mention of my mother’s death brought a tremor to my hands. “But I’m not a soldier. I’m just a blacksmith’s daughter and a maid.”

“You’re strikingly beautiful for a maid,” the king said bluntly. “A necessary component of this plan.”

I gritted my teeth at the backhanded compliment. “Surely there must be more to this than my appearance.”

“Your appearance—and your parentage—is exactly why I chose you.”

I stared at him, thrown. But before I could ask any further questions, the king dismissed me. “Be on your way. I hope it goes without saying that you won’t tell a soul about this plot.”

I gave a grim nod and tightened my arm around my father, helping him hobble out of the room.

***

Once we arrived back at the shop, I instructed my father to clean up while I looked for Finneas. I

found him in the back, already drunk. He whirled around to look at me, swaying and wide-eyed. “Why are you back?” he demanded. “I can’t repay the guards. I already spent the gold they gave me.”

It took me a moment to understand. Then it hit me. Instead of hiding me, he’d sold me out for a few coins so he could get drunk. Scalding rage overtook me, and I shoved him hard. “You snake! I came to you for help, but you handed me over to them! How could you do that to me?”

Finneas stumbled, then took my shoulders. “I had no choice!” he slurred. “It was either that or they would kill our father. Is that really what you want?”

Angry tears stung the corners of my eyes. “You know it isn’t.”

“Besides,” Finneas went on, his grip tightening on my shoulders, “shouldn’t you be honored that the king has selected you for whatever this is?”

I stepped back from him, devastated. Would he be so cavalier if he knew the truth, or wasn’t drunk? That I was going to be sent off not only to the Farlands but to marry a vampire? “I should kill you,” I muttered.

Finneas lurched forward and put his arms around me. “Don’t be like that. You wouldn’t kill someone you love, would you?”

I shoved him off and stormed out to find my father, ignoring Finneas’s pleas for me to come back and hear him out.

I found my father sitting in his bedroom, wiping tears from his eyes. I sat down beside him, and he took my hand. “I’m sorry, Vel. I should have been stronger. I should have protected you.”

Shaking my head, I squeezed his hand. “No. You raised me to be strong and stand on my own two feet.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “Just like your mother.” Pa stood, crossing the room and opening a carved wooden box on the dresser. He lifted out a small parcel wrapped in dark green velvet, then came back to me and placed it in my hands.

I unwrapped the fabric to find an ornate sheath and dagger. I stared at it, then slowly drew the blade. It wasn’t familiar, and the metal was unlike any I’d ever seen before, a silver so pale it was almost white. The blade was as reflective as a mirror, but shaved finer than a razor’s edge on the sharp side. I could tell with a glance that this wasn’t a weapon my father had made.

“It was your mother's,” he explained. “Forged from enchanted silver mined in the Oceanwell Cave System deep under the sea. As you can imagine, reaching the caves is no small feat, and legend has it that the ore is fiercely guarded by the beasts of the deep. It’s tougher than steel and sharper than obsidian.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the blade. “I thought it was just a legend.”

“Legend or not, your mother believed in its power. She would want you to have it. It will help keep you safe.”

I swallowed hard and slipped the dagger securely to my waist in its sheath. “Thank you.”

Just then, I heard Rayner’s voice downstairs calling for me. I leapt to my feet and raced down to him. He immediately reached for me. “Vel? What’s going on? Your brother said you were here, and I’ve been looking all over for you. Why are there guards here?”

My stomach twisted. I couldn’t tell him the truth. I quickly came up with a lie. “Everything is fine,” I assured him. “I just found out I have to travel with the princess. I’ll be gone for a while, so I need you to take care of my family in my absence.”

Rayner looked stunned. “What? Why all of a sudden? Where are you going? I haven’t heard anything—”

I interrupted him with a kiss. “Just promise me.”

He blinked. “I…of course.”

I forced a smile. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

I said a tearful goodbye to my father and brother before the guards closed in around me and escorted me back to the palace. I let my tears fall on the walk. By the time I was shown into an empty room with the king, my eyes were dry and my heart was hollow.

“I’m glad to see you’ve come to your senses,” he said.

“Why resort to this?” I asked. “There are so many ways it could go wrong. There must be some other way to make a truce. Too many people have died from the fighting these past fifteen years to gamble on such a risky plan. What if Ares discovers the truth about who I am?”

“It won’t matter.”

“Of course it will! What if—”

“It won’t matter,” the king interrupted, “because before Ares has a chance to discover the truth, you’re going to kill him.”