Seraphina's POV
"Seraphina?"
The voice pulled me from the darkness where I'd been sinking.
I opened my eyes. A figure stood over me, backlit by the lamps from the manor. For a moment, I thought it was Father coming to apologize. To finally tell me he loved me.
But Father would never come.
"Seraphina, what did they do to you?"
Kaelen. The steward's son. My only friend.
He knelt beside me in the mud, not caring about his clean clothes, and gently touched my face. His fingers were warm against my cold skin.
"They threw me out," I said, my voice hollow. "Like garbage."
"I know. I saw." His jaw clenched with anger—not at me, but for me. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."
He helped me stand. My legs shook and my dress hung heavy with mud, but Kaelen's arm around my waist kept me steady. We walked away from the grand hall, away from the party still celebrating inside, toward the stables at the edge of the estate.
The one place I'd ever felt safe.
Inside, horses shifted in their stalls. The smell of hay and leather wrapped around me. Kaelen grabbed a clean cloth and filled a bucket with water from the well.
"Sit," he said gently, pointing to a hay bale.
I sat.
He knelt in front of me and began washing the mud from my face. Each stroke of the cloth was careful. Tender. Like I was something precious instead of something shameful.
"You don't have to do this," I whispered.
"Yes, I do." He rinsed the cloth and continued cleaning. "Someone has to take care of you, since your family won't."
Fresh tears burned my eyes. "I'm so tired, Kaelen."
"I know."
"I can't do this anymore. I can't keep pretending it'll get better."
"Then don't." He set down the cloth and took my hands. His eyes met mine, brown and warm and filled with something I couldn't name. "Come with me instead."
I blinked. "What?"
"Leave this place." His grip tightened on my hands. "Tonight. Right now. We'll take two horses and ride until we reach the coast. Start fresh somewhere the Ashencroft name means nothing."
My heart stuttered. "Kaelen, that's crazy—"
"Is it?" He moved closer. "What's crazy is staying here. Letting them destroy you piece by piece. Believing that somehow, someday, they'll magically start treating you like you matter."
"But where would we go? How would we live?"
"I've been saving money for three years." His voice grew urgent. "I have enough to get us to the port cities. We can find work. Build a life. Be free."
Free.
The word tasted like honey and poison at the same time.
"I..." I pulled my hands back. "I can't just leave."
"Why not?"
"Tomorrow is Lyria's wedding. If I'm not there—if I don't serve perfectly—Father will be furious."
Kaelen stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "Who cares if he's furious? He let them throw you in the mud, Seraphina! He stood there and watched!"
"I know, but—"
"But what?" He stood abruptly, pacing the stable. "How many more times will you let them hurt you before you realize they'll never love you?"
The words hit like fists. Because he was right. Deep down, I knew he was right.
But I couldn't give up. Not yet.
"One more chance," I said quietly. "Tomorrow, I'll serve at the wedding. I'll do everything perfectly. And if Father still doesn't see me—if nothing changes—then I'll go with you. I promise."
Kaelen stopped pacing. He turned to look at me, and something strange flickered across his face. Something that made my stomach twist.
"You promise?" he asked slowly. "After the wedding, you'll leave with me?"
"Yes."
For a long moment, he just stared. Then his shoulders sagged like I'd knocked the fight out of him.
"Seraphina, I..." He ran a hand through his hair, looking suddenly exhausted. "There's something I need to tell you."
"What?"
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"I love you," he finally said.
The stable went silent except for the sound of horses breathing.
"What?" I whispered.
"I love you." He crossed the space between us and knelt again, taking my hands. "I've loved you since we were children. Since you shared your last piece of bread with me even though you were hungry. Since you stood between me and that stable master's whip. Since you laughed at my terrible jokes when you should have been crying."
My throat closed. No one had ever said those words to me.
"I love you," Kaelen repeated, his voice breaking. "And I can't watch them destroy you anymore. Please, Seraphina. Please come with me tonight. Not tomorrow. Tonight."
"Why does it have to be tonight?" I asked. "What's the difference?"
Something flashed in his eyes—fear, maybe, or panic. "Because... because I need you to choose me. Just once, I need you to choose yourself over them."
He was right. About all of it. My family would never accept me. Nothing I did would ever be enough.
But tomorrow was Lyria's wedding. My last chance to prove I could be useful. Worthy. Good enough.
I couldn't walk away from that. Not yet.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice shaking. "I need to try one more time. After the wedding—"
"After the wedding will be too late!" Kaelen's voice cracked with desperation. "Please, you have to trust me—"
"Why?" I pulled back. "Why will it be too late?"
He stared at me, his face pale in the lamplight. For a moment, I thought he might tell me something important. Something terrible.
But then his expression smoothed into something resigned. Sad.
"Because you'll change your mind," he said quietly. "You'll find another excuse to stay. Another reason to hope."
He stood and looked down at me with eyes that held too much pain.
"Then I hope you find what you're looking for," he said.
Before I could respond, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. His lips were cold—colder than they should have been. The kiss felt less like love and more like goodbye.
Like mourning.
"Kaelen, wait—"
But he was already walking away, his footsteps echoing in the darkness.
"After tomorrow!" I called after him. "I promise! After the wedding, I'll go with you!"
He paused at the stable door, his back to me.
"Goodbye, Seraphina," he said softly.
Then he was gone.
I sat alone in the hay, still covered in drying mud, my only friend disappearing into the night. Something felt wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong.
The way he'd looked at me. The desperation in his voice. That cold, final kiss.
"After the wedding will be too late."
Too late for what?
I stood on shaking legs and moved to the door. Outside, the manor glowed with lamplight. Music drifted on the wind. Everyone was celebrating.
I watched Kaelen's figure vanish into the shadows.
And I didn't know why, but I felt like I'd just made the worst mistake of my life.
Like I'd just refused my only chance at salvation.
Like something terrible was coming, and I'd chosen to stay and face it.
In the distance, something roared—low and deep and nothing like any animal I'd ever heard.
I told myself it was thunder.
I told myself I was imagining things.
I was wrong.