My Secret Lover Is The Crown Prince Alpha

SERAPHINA POV:

I sat in a velvet armchair in my new royal suite, the dried night-blooming jasmine resting on my palm. Its scent was faint, a ghost of the nights I had spent with Damian. Why was this flower, a secret piece of my private life, tucked inside a book from the King? My stomach clenched. This sudden elevation, this barony... it felt less like a gift and more like a leash. A beautiful, gilded cage.

My new maid, a young woman named Clara Jenkins whom the palace had assigned to me, entered the room carrying a tea service. Her face was flushed with an excitement she couldn't contain.

"A Baroness! My lady, you're a Baroness!" she whispered, her voice full of awe as she set the porcelain cup down.

I looked from her innocent joy to the opulent room, then back to the flower in my hand. The pieces didn't fit. The generosity was too much, the timing too perfect. A cold wave of suspicion washed over me.

"It feels less like a gift and more like a leash, Clara," I said quietly. With a deliberate slowness, I brought my thumb down, crushing the delicate, dried petals into dust.

Clara's smile froze. "My lady?"

"This favor is too heavy," I murmured, wiping the floral dust from my fingers. "It feels like part of a plan. And I don't know whose."

Just then, a royal attendant appeared at the door, his posture stiff. "Your Excellency, Lord Gideon Montgomery requests an audience."

A cold, humorless smile touched my lips. Of course. The fool had come running.

"Tell him Baroness Beaumont is occupied," I said, my voice flat. It was the first time I had used the title. It felt like putting on ill-fitting armor.

The attendant hesitated. "He says it's urgent, my lady. He looks... distressed."

My curiosity piqued. I rose from the chair and walked to the door, peering through the small peephole. There he was, my ex-fiancé, pacing the corridor like a caged animal. The usual arrogance was gone from his face, replaced by a raw, desperate regret. The sight sent a sharp, satisfying thrill through me.

I pulled the heavy oak door wide open, stepping fully into the threshold. I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to see the opulent suite behind me, the fine silk of my new gown, and the absolute disdain in my eyes.

"Lord Montgomery," I said. My voice was ice.

His head snapped up. His eyes widened, taking in my appearance. The shock on his face was palpable, quickly followed by a wave of raw, desperate regret. "Seraphina, I... We need to talk," he stammered, taking a step forward.

"That is Baroness Beaumont to you, my lord," I corrected him smoothly, not yielding an inch of space. "Or has your new engagement already made you forget basic court etiquette?"

His face flushed a dark, ugly red. "Please, don't do this. I was a fool," he choked out, his eyes pleading. "I didn't know the King would... I didn't know you would be elevated like this."

I let out a soft, mocking laugh that made him flinch. "Ah, there it is. The ugly truth. You didn't come here to apologize to Seraphina, the woman you so easily discarded when she was of no political use to you. You came to grovel before the Baroness of Sunstone Coast."

"That's not true! I realized my mistake—"

"You realized your miscalculation," I cut him off, my words sharp as a guillotine. "You threw away a diamond because you were too stupid to see its worth without a royal stamp of approval. And now that the King himself has set it in gold, you come crawling back like a starved dog?"

He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked utterly pathetic, stripped of all his former arrogance.

"You made your choice when you thought I was beneath you, Gideon," I said, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Now, I am the one looking down. Do not ever approach my chambers again."

I shut the door firmly in his stunned face. I could hear his frustrated, ragged breathing on the other side. There was no pity in my heart, only the cold, intoxicating satisfaction of a battle won.

I turned away, deciding to visit the royal library. I needed to learn about Sunstone Coast, my new domain. My leash.

As I walked down a long, dim corridor lined with ancient tapestries, a flicker of movement from behind a marble column caught my eye. A tall figure, a familiar silhouette. The way he moved...

My heart stopped. Damian.

I immediately broke into a run, my soft slippers silent on the stone floor. I rounded the corner, my breath catching in my throat. The corridor was empty. A cold draft blew in from an open window, making the tapestries sway like ghosts.

Was it my imagination? Or was he really here, in the heart of the royal palace? A simple paid companion could never get this deep into the royal wing. The knot of suspicion in my stomach tightened into a painful cramp.