Seraphina's POV
The forest felt different that night. Not quieter and not louder, but heavier, as though the trees themselves were holding their breaths.
The air carried the scent of damp earth, iron, and something far older, something ritualistic, as if the ground understood exactly what was about to unfold.
This was not a wedding. This was a claim.
Lucas stood at the center of it all.
I watched him from across the clearing, his posture straight and his expression carved into something almost regal beneath the shifting light.
Pride rested openly in his gaze as he spoke to Layla, the kind of heavy, rooted pride that suggested this union had already secured everything he had been building toward for years.
"This is for your own good," he told her, his voice calm and final, the kind of tone that left no room for argument. "Everything I do is for this family."
Layla said nothing.
