SERAPHINA'S POV:
With Kaelen gone, Moira hovered near the door, her expression a mixture of terror and concern. She probably thought I had gone mad from the betrayal.
"Leave me," I said softly. "I need a moment alone."
She hesitated, then bowed her head and slipped out of the room, closing the door with a quiet click.
The moment I was alone, the strength I had feigned drained away. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. The pain was a welcome anchor, keeping me grounded.
I wasn't mad. I remembered exactly how it had all begun—and exactly how Kaelen had destroyed us.
In my past life, I had trusted him without question. I gave him access to the Croft family's confidence, our connections, even military information that should never have left my father's hands. Kaelen used that trust to steal military secrets and sell them to the king's rival, Prince Damian.
I remembered my family. The great House of Croft, framed for treason, destroyed overnight. My father, beheaded. My brothers, slain in battle. My mother, Eleonora, her already frail body giving out as she coughed up blood upon hearing the news.
By the time I realized what Kaelen had done, there was almost nothing left for me to save.
My dowry, the immense fortune from my mother's Beaumont family, was plundered by Kaelen and Jacqueline. It became the capital they used to climb the social ladder.
Even my stepsister, Cressida, and my stepmother, Lady Elara, had played their part, picking over the last valuable scraps in the Croft estate like vultures.
Kaelen used me. Jacqueline took what belonged to me. Elara and Cressida helped strip the Croft family of whatever remained. And while I had once been too blind to see the trap closing around me, I remembered every face now. Every choice. Every debt.
Before my last life ended, I had sworn that if fate ever gave me another chance, every person who betrayed my family would pay.
Now I had that chance.
And my first move was obvious.
Kaelen had to lose me before he could use me again.
I crossed the room to the writing desk and pulled out the marriage contract binding House Croft to House Sterling. In my previous life, I had treasured that parchment as proof that Kaelen and I had a future. Now I saw it for what it truly was—the first chain he had wrapped around my throat.
I drew one hard line through his name, lit the corner of my own copy over the candle, and watched the contract curl into blackened ash.
The engagement would end today. Publicly. Before Kaelen had the chance to twist it into another humiliation.
I would not be humiliated at the ceremony as Kaelen "reluctantly" broke our betrothal and demanded a fortune in compensation for his "troubles."
This time, I would strike first. I would present the annulment decree before the entire family and end our engagement in front of everyone, leaving Lord Kaelen Sterling with nothing but shame.
I threw open the door. Moira was waiting anxiously outside. She took one look at the ash still clinging to my fingers and the resolve in my eyes, and her own went wide.
"My lady, you..."
"Moira," I cut her off. "Prepare a formal decree of annulment. I will sign it immediately."
Her jaw dropped. "But, my lady, that requires the approval of the head of the house and the elders... To annul it unilaterally, you'll be the laughingstock of the entire nobility!"
"Let them laugh." My voice was calm. "I'd rather be mocked for ending a rotten engagement than spend another day bound to a man like Kaelen Sterling."
Moira didn't understand the depth of my words, but she saw the unshakeable certainty in my eyes.
"I understand, my lady." She stopped arguing and hurried away to do as I commanded. She was my mother's woman, the only one I could truly trust.
I sat back down before the mirror, staring at the young face that held so much hatred.
Kaelen. Jacqueline. Elara. Cressida.
I would spare none of them.
I picked up a tube of lipstick and painted my pale lips a defiant, blood-red.
Tonight's heir confirmation ceremony would be my battlefield.
I would not only reclaim everything that was mine, but I would also protect the person in this family I was most determined to save—my frail, ailing mother.
In my last life, I was powerless to save her. This time, I would not let history repeat itself.
I stood, smoothing my dress. The flames of vengeance burned in my heart, hotter than any fire that had ever consumed me.
