Seraphina
When my uncle's voice thundered across the hall, I braced myself for humiliation, convinced he would hand me over to some low graded man, maybe one of his guards. My stomach had already twisted itself into knots, preparing for the sneers and laughter that would follow but when he said the name "Adrian" my world tilted.
For a heartbeat, I thought I misheard him, that perhaps the wine and smoke-clouded air had blurred my senses. But no. The nobles' gasps, the whispers that rippled across the room, confirmed it.
Duke Adrian. The same man I had clung to in drunken despair. The same stranger I had sought in vain, only to discover him now as my betrothed. My lips parted, but no sound came. I could only stand there, drowning in a sea of eyes that judged, mocked, pitied.
Later, when the guests had dispersed into laughter and idle chatter, I confronted my uncle. His study was heavy with the scent of cigars and ambition, the walls lined with books he never read.
"How could you?" My voice trembled, not from fear, but fury. "You announce my engagement without even asking me?"
He didn't look up from the glass he poured, swirling amber liquid as if it were more worthy of his attention than I was. "You should thank me, Seraphina," he said coolly. "A duke's hand is far more than you deserve after your humiliation with the prince. I've salvaged what little worth you had."
My hands curled into fists. "Salvaged? You've traded me like I'm one of your contracts."
His eyes flicked up then, sharp and cold. "You are a contract and you'll do as you're told. Refuse him, and you'll find yourself without a roof, without coin, without family. After all your mother agreed to this"
My mother…..why would she do this to me, I knew I had disappointed her before but the doesn't mean she should sell me out. I was still her daughter. My father wouldn't have agreed to this, but he was lying ill and powerless on his bed.
I staggered back, the weight of his words pressing against my chest. In that moment, the faint ache in my bones flared, my wrist burning with a strange, ghostly warmth. I pressed it against my skirts, hiding it before he noticed.
What was happening to me? The glow… it had flickered in the hall, and now, here, with rage boiling inside me, it threatened to betray me again. My uncle was too busy smirking at his own cleverness to notice.
"You've ruined me," I whispered, though my voice lacked the conviction I wanted.
His laugh was low, cruel. "No, child. I've saved you. You'll thank me one day….if you're still alive."
I left his study before the tears could fall, storming down the corridor and of course, Adrian was there, waiting, as though fate enjoyed twisting the knife. He stepped out from the shadows of the balcony, tall, unreadable, every inch the duke.
My anger snapped before I could contain it. "Did you know?" I demanded, my voice cracking the silence.
His brows furrowed. "Not until tonight." His tone was calm, infuriatingly calm, but his eyes betrayed a flicker of unease.
"Then why not refuse?" I hissed.
"You didn't want this any more than I did." He exhaled slowly, his gaze dropping to the marble floor before finding mine again. "Because refusing isn't an option. Not for you. Not for me."
The words sliced through me, leaving a hollow ache. "You speak as though we are prisoners," I shot back.
He gave a humorless laugh. "Aren't we? You, trapped by your uncle's greed. Me, shackled by my father's commands. We're both pawns."
I wanted to argue, to lash out, but instead I whispered, "Then what was that night? Was it pity? A game?"
His jaw tightened. "No game. You wanted someone to listen, someone who didn't know your name or your past. I was that man, for a moment. Nothing more." My throat tightened, fury and confusion battling for dominance.
"And now you're my fiancé."
His eyes darkened, voice lowering. "And that terrifies you more than anything ever did, doesn't it?"
I turned away, unable to face the truth in his words. My hand burned again, the faint glow flickering to life beneath my skin. I gripped the railing, praying he wouldn't notice, shoving my hand deep into my skirts.
What was this curse doing to me? Why now? And why him? My heart hammered painfully, the heat in my veins mocking the cold dread in my chest. If he saw the glow, he said nothing, though his eyes lingered on me longer than they should have.
That night, sleep mocked me. My body throbbed with familiar aches, but sharper now, like knives beneath my skin. I twisted in bed, clutching my pillow, my mind replaying the evening again and again. My uncle's smirk. Adrian's steady gaze. The weight of every whisper in the hall. Yet the cruelest thought was the memory of that inn night, how the aches had vanished when I slept beside him.
For the first time in years, I had felt peace. I had woken without pain, without dread. And now, the thought that I might need him to feel whole again sickened me more than the aches themselves.
By dawn, my eyes burned from sleeplessness, my body aching as though I'd carried stones through my dreams. I dragged myself to the mirror, pressing trembling fingers to the faint glow that pulsed beneath my skin.
"What are you doing to me?" I whispered, though no answer came. Only the echo of my uncle's threat and Adrian's resigned voice filled the silence.
I remembered a story an old witch once told me when I was a child, "When the mark burns without love, beware. Fate doesn't choose lightly. Its choices are crueler than men's." I had dismissed it as a bedtime fright, but now, staring at the flicker under my skin, I wondered if I was already caught in the trap.
Soon, my uncle paraded me like a prize mare. He forced me to stand at Adrian's side in front of the nobles who kept whispering to each other and giving me scary side eyes.
My smile was brittle, my insides knotted with rage. Adrian's presence was steady beside me, his face carved into polite indifference, but I could feel the tension in the way he stood, the silence between us heavy as chains.
I hated him for looking so composed while I felt like a storm tearing myself apart. I hated him, and yet… I couldn't stop noticing how close he stood, how the burn in my hand pulsed whenever his sleeve brushed mine.
Then it happened. As the guests raised their glasses in a mockery of celebration, the glow in my hand flared, bright and undeniable.
Gasps rippled through the room, whispers erupting like wildfire.
"Her mark, did you see it? The bond…" My uncle's eyes widened in shock, but quickly narrowed in calculation. I froze, horror rushing through me.
I knew what it meant, even if I didn't want to admit it. The bond hadn't awakened for the prince. But it was stirring now,
right here, with Adrian standing beside me and worse, it had chosen for me.