Page 29 of A Court of Darkness and Dragons

The change was seamless. Bones didn’t crack, muscles didn’t warp. She just melted into me—my face, my body, my eyes. Every line, every movement, me. Except… wrong.

Too perfect.

Too smooth.

Her lips curled into a mockery of my smile as she took a step toward Remy. “Come on, Remy,” she said, in my voice. My voice. “You know it’s you that I love.”

The courtyard stilled around us, the silence pressing in, thick and awful.

I turned to Remy, my heart beating so loud I could barely hear myself speak. “Tell me the truth,” I said, my voice shaking. “Tell me you didn’t?”

He didn’t answer right away.

And that was almost worse.

Remy took a step back, as if the weight of my words had physically struck him. His mouth opened, then closed. And when he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse—cracked.

“I thought she was you,” he said. “Gods, Ashe, I thought⁠—”

“You what?” I snapped, rage flashing like a storm behind my eyes. “You thought she was me, and you just went along with it?”

“She knew things only you would know!” he shouted, desperate. “The bond with Kaelith. The way your power burns behind your skin. The scar on your hip⁠—”

I reeled back as if he’d slapped me.

“I would never betray Zander,” I hissed, the fury rising so fast I could barely contain it. “Not for you. Not for anyone. How could you do this?”

“I didn’t mean⁠—”

“You didn’t mean to fall into bed with a Blood Fae wearing my face?” I seethed. “Spare me.”

And behind me, Severeth laughed.

Not a dainty chuckle this time. A full-bodied, cruel thing that echoed across the courtyard and sliced into me with unbearable precision.

She still wore my face.

“Tragic,” she said in my voice, dragging her fingers slowly through the air as if she were weaving silk. “Really. The heartbreak. The betrayal. The moral superiority. You mortals are always so dramatic.”

I spun on her, fury pulsing so hot through my veins I thought I might burn the stone beneath my feet.

“You violated my life,” I spat. “You stole my face, pretended to be my sister, and you killed our warders. For what? To take a city that doesn’t want you?”

She smirked, her form still eerily identical to mine. “I didn’t steal anything. I created what I needed. You’re the one they all followed, Ashe. So I gave them another you. Quieter. Softer. Easier to influence.” She turned her head slightly, red eyes gleaming. “And he followed.”

“You’re nothing like me.” My voice shook with rage.

“No,” she purred. “I’m better. I don’t cling to guilt. I don’t waste power on loyalty. I take what I want.”

She stepped forward again. “And I want everything.”

Magic flared in my chest, Kaelith rising behind my ribs like a storm uncoiling.

“Then come take it,” I growled.

Because she might’ve worn my face.

But I was done letting anyone else speak in my name.