The walk to the lake felt like a lifetime to Seraphina, her senses heightened with each step.
The forest was beautiful, its towering trees swaying gently under the morning sunlight, their branches casting shifting patterns of shadow and light along the dirt path.
Birds chirped in the distance, and the crisp air carried the faint scent of pine.
But none of it brought her peace.
She felt Adolphus’s presence behind her like a physical weight, his eyes boring into her back.
Every time she glanced over her shoulder, she caught his dark gaze following her, unwavering, protective, yet unnerving.
Lady Elara led the way with an effortless grace, chatting softly with the other women who had joined them.
Seraphina tried to focus on their conversation, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Adolphus.
His intensity rattled her, made her skin prickle, but it also made her stomach tighten in a way she refused to acknowledge.