Marcel:
I should have known she would tell him.
I should have known that he should have heard it from me.
Seraphina never let things rest quietly. Not when there was a chance to reclaim relevance. Not when a truth could tilt the balance of a room. Not when I knew that she was realizing that she had lost everything that she could have had because she simply made the wrong choice.
Still…
Hearing Alexander say it out loud had burned more than I expected.
Why didn’t you tell me she was your mate?
Because it wasn’t simple, she had rejected the bond, and I had chosen silence over whatever that would have been.
Because I didn’t want to stand there and admit that the woman destined for me had looked past me like I was a placeholder.
I had buried it, and I chose to never look back at it.
