Chapter 45

Author's POV Since returning from Switzerland, Darius felt that something had changed—within him, around him, even the way people looked at him. Sleep no longer came easily as it once did. Every night, his mind was filled with images of the past—warm brown eyes that had once looked at him with love, now daring to challenge him with disturbing determination. And when he saw Seraphina at the dinner party earlier, something inside him froze. She looked like a dream too perfect to be real—graceful in her dress, her black hair cascading softly over her shoulders. That smile... It wasn't the sad smile he had seen before, but a smile full of confidence, peace, and—most painfully—freedom from him. Darius didn't know why it hurt. Wasn't this what he had wanted before? Freedom from the bonds, from the burden of destiny that came with being the partner of an heir? But now, seeing her shine without him by her side made Darius's chest feel tight. The way Seraphina interacted with others—so natural,