Sold To The Cruel Prince

Theron noticed it first... the change.

The coldness that began to seep from Aveline was not the kind born of anger alone. It was deeper, heavier, as though something beneath her skin had stirred awake. Her beautiful blue eyes darkened, the color deepening into something almost unnatural, something that did not belong to a girl standing in the middle of a marketplace.

And then came the rest of it.

It was not visible, not in a way others could point at and name. But he could feel it. No... he could see it, in the way one sees heat rising from stone under a merciless sun. Something warped the air around her, a subtle distortion that curled outward, slow and deliberate, like a presence stretching after a long slumber.

From the corner of his eye, he caught Kael going still.

He had noticed it too.

Theron’s jaw tightened slightly. Kael had already called her a curse once. He did not need more reason to believe it.

This needed to end. Now.

The thought came sharp and immediate.

Because he knew this. He had seen it before.

There had been a day, when Aveline had worn this same expression. That same unnatural stillness. That same terrifying focus.

The day he believed she had chosen them over him.

He had hidden that afternoon, silent and unseen, watching as she sat among the other children like a queen among her court, spinning elaborate tales of what they would do to him once they gathered enough horse piss. Her voice had been animated, almost playful, as she instructed them, encouraged them, sent them running about their ridiculous task.

And they had obeyed.

Eagerly.

Though collecting it proved far less dignified than they had imagined.

Theron had watched, half-hidden, unable to suppress a flicker of amusement as one child was nearly kicked by a horse, another slipped, and more than one ended up drenched in the very thing they had so enthusiastically collected. Aveline, meanwhile, had done nothing but watch, her expression unreadable.

Even then, he had wondered.

Was she planning something?

And when the time came, when they finally surrounded him, triumphant, each holding their hard-earned buckets, ready to humiliate him... Aveline...

***

Aveline’s sharp voice yanked him back to the present.

"Kneel."

The word dropped like a stone into still water, heavy and absolute.

Her voice had changed.

It was lower now, deeper, as though as though the voice did not belong entirely to her. The unseen shadowy distortion around her intensified, coiling outward until it wrapped around Flora and the others, pressing in on them, tightening like invisible hands around their hearts and minds.

Just like that day, only he could see it, and only he could recognize it.

"Apologize to Theron," Aveline continued, her gaze fixed, unyielding. "You do not get to humiliate him."

The air seemed to shudder with the weight of her words.

Flora trembled.

So did the others.

Their earlier arrogance cracked, fear seeping through as their knees weakened beneath them. It was as though something unseen had latched onto them, dragging them downward, their own shadows pulling them to the ground in silent obedience.

Theron watched.

And the memory rose again, vivid and sharp.

That same circle of children...That same moment of triumph... And Aveline, standing among them, her voice carrying that same chilling authority.

"You do not get to humiliate Theron anymore."

The next instant, the buckets had tipped. Deliberatelytipped, as if guided by unseen hands, the contents spilling not on him, but on them, drenching them in the very humiliation they had prepared for him.

Their laughter had turned to shrieks; their pride to filth. And Aveline had simply stood there, watching.

Just like now.

Theron pressed his lips together, his gaze fixed on her.

Those same eyes. That same eerie stillness. That same quiet, terrifying certainty, like she was weaving something ancient and unknowable without even realizing it.

The same words. The same girl. And yet... not the same at all.

Theron could not look away.

What was happening to her? And more importantly—did she even realize it was happening?

His chest tightened in a way he did not like. Others stood there, confused or frightened without understanding why, but he saw it. He saw the darkness that curled around her, the way it bent the air, the way it pressed down on those women like an unseen hand.

It did not belong to her. It did not suit her. And yet... it answered when she called.

And both times... both times it had surfaced because of him.

That realization sat heavily in his chest.

This was a marketplace, not some secluded corner where such things could go unnoticed. It had already been dangerous enough for her to lie about his identity. But the truth was far worse.

He was the Crown Prince.

If anyone here began to look too closely, if anyone started connecting the wrong dots...

His gaze flickered back to her.

She showed no sign of stopping.

-----

Aveline felt... still; calm in a way that felt almost sacred.

Those women, who had dared to humiliate Theron, who had looked down on him, who had treated him like something beneath their notice, were exactly where they belonged now.

On their knees.

If only she could press them further. Grind them into the ground until their pride cracked completely, until they became nothing more than shadows clinging to the dirt beneath her feet.

The thought did not horrify her.

It soothed her.

Something unfurled from deep within her, rising from the pit of her stomach and curling slowly around her heart. It spread through her like warmth, like something soft and almost tender, wrapping around her insides with unsettling gentleness.

The more the three women trembled, the more they struggled against whatever held them down, the deeper that quiet sense of peace settled within her.

It felt... Right.

-----

"Aveline, for you."

Theron’s voice cut through it, clean and real.

The world snapped back into place.

Aveline turned to him immediately, as though pulled by something far stronger than whatever had held her moments ago. He stood there, close enough that she could see him clearly now, holding out a bouquet she had already noticed but somehow forgotten.

"For me?" she asked, her lips curving into a smile.

Theron watched carefully.

The darkness, whatever it had been, began to recede, slipping away from her like a tide pulling back into the depths. He tried to follow it, to understand where it went, but it vanished too quickly, leaving no trace behind.

But her eyes... They were blue again. That bright and clear crystalline shade he had come to recognize so easily.

And her smile... this one reached her eyes, warm and alive in a way that erased the coldness from moments before.

Something in his chest eased.

He would do anything to see that look on her face.

Aveline took the bouquet from him, her attention immediately captured. The roses were not simply blue. They shimmered, their petals catching the light and shifting in color with every small movement, like something caught between crystal and silk.

"It’s called the Mother of the Pearls Rose," Theron said quietly.

Aveline’s eyes widened with genuine delight. She had never seen anything like it before. The petals looked almost like polished gemstone, yet when her fingers brushed against them, they were soft, delicate, and alive.

For a moment, everything else faded.

-----

Behind them, the pressure vanished.

Flora and the others felt it all at once, the invisible force that had held them down snapping like a broken thread. They stumbled as they rose, exchanging shaken glances, each silently asking the same question.

What just happened?

Had they truly... Kneeled?

In front of her? In front of a fallen viscount’s daughter and a supposed orphan?

The humiliation burned hotter than fear.

Flora’s face twisted, the shock quickly giving way to something far more familiar—rage.

"Thieves!" she screamed, her voice shrill as it cut through the marketplace. "They stole the Mother of the Pearl roses!"

The accusation rang out, loud enough to draw every wandering gaze.

Heads turned.

Eyes settled on them.

And just like that... The attention of the entire market shifted.