Lucius stood paralyzed, his breath coming in jagged fragments like shards of shattered glass. His gaze was anchored to the parchment at his feet, fixed on the Imperial seal he knew better than his own reflection—the mark of Serene, his gentle, innocent little sister.
How? When? A silent scream echoed through the hollows of his mind. He wanted to shred the paper, to call his own eyes liars, to roar that Serene could never love a sadistic wretch like Roland. Yet the evidence shrieked back with terrifying clarity. He recalled Serene's hollow stares, her prolonged silences, her withdrawal from the world... was it all because she was pining for the man he loathed?
Guilt began to gnaw at his insides like a starved wolf. Alisha was enduring a living hell because of his decisions, and Serene was suffering the agony of a forbidden love because of his pride. He had razed the lives of the two women he had sworn to protect.
