# CHAPTER 68 – THE PAWN'S CONFESSION
**POV: Alexander**
"You think she'll ever forgive me?"
The question hung in the air like smoke. Marcus didn't answer right away. Just kept staring out the window at the training grounds where Vanessa was working with Damien and Kieran. Even from here, I could see the fire dancing around her hands. Beautiful and deadly.
Everything I'd thrown away.
"Forgiveness isn't something you can demand, boy." Marcus finally turned to face me, his weathered face showing every one of his seventy years. "It's something you earn. And some debts... some debts can't ever be paid."
I wanted to argue with him. Tell him he was wrong. But the truth sat in my chest like a stone, heavy and cold.
I'd fucked up. Bad. And not just the rejection – though that was the worst of it. Everything else too. All the little betrayals. All the times I'd chosen my father's approval over what was right.
