Seraphina's Point Of View
The door hadn't just clicked shut; it had sealed the rest of the world away, leaving me in a vacuum where the oxygen suddenly felt expensive.
Lucian's question hung there, sharp and cold like a shard of ice suspended in midair. "Why did you take up that responsibility without letting us know?"
I shifted my weight, my heels digging into the plush carpet. The heat blooming under my collar spread across my neck, creeping upward like wildfire.
Still, I kept my chin up, refusing to let them see me falter. My mother had taught me that much, never let them smell weakness. "I wanted to prove myself to them," I said, forcing my voice to sound far more confident than I actually felt.
Each word came out measured, deliberate, as if I were placing stones across a river. "I needed them to see that I got to this position based on my capability. Not because the three of you favored me and just... put me there like a piece of furniture you liked."
