Chapter 20: The Fire in His Eyes

Seraphina did not sleep.

Not that night. Not after the words exchanged in the abandoned wing. Not after the way Adrian had reacted to Duke Laurent's taunts.

A man did not react that way unless he had something to hide.

She sat in the dim candlelight of her chambers, staring at the flames flickering in the hearth, her thoughts a tangled web of doubt and suspicion.

Had Adrian truly mourned Evelyne?

Had he truly lost her to tragedy?

Or was the grief he wore merely another mask, concealing a far darker truth?

A soft knock on her door startled her.

Seraphina rose cautiously, smoothing down her silk nightgown before unlatching the door.

Adrian stood there, the glow of the hallway casting sharp shadows across his features.

He looked… exhausted.

For the first time, his usual calculated expression was missing.

"You're awake," he murmured.

"As are you," she countered.

His lips quirked slightly. "I couldn't sleep."

Seraphina hesitated before stepping aside. He entered, his presence filling the space between them. She shut the door, watching him as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Are you here to warn me again?" she asked, arms crossing.

He exhaled, shaking his head. "No. I'm here because I know you won't listen."

Her lips parted slightly, surprised at his honesty.

"I won't," she admitted.

Adrian turned to her, eyes searching hers. "Then let me ask you this—if you find the truth, what will you do with it?"

She swallowed. "That depends on what the truth is."

His jaw clenched. "Some truths destroy everything they touch, ma chérie."

"Then why do you look like a man who has already been destroyed?"

Silence.

A long, heavy silence that seemed to stretch between them like an invisible thread—one that neither of them dared to cut.

Adrian took a slow step toward her. "You are playing a dangerous game."

Seraphina held her ground. "So are you."

His gaze dropped to her lips—just for a fraction of a second—before he looked away.

"You should sleep," he murmured.

"And you should stop treating me like glass," she shot back.

Something dark flickered in his expression. "You think I do that?"

"I think you are afraid that if I break, I'll cut you too."

A slow exhale. A flicker of something unspoken between them.

Then, softly, Adrian reached out—just the barest brush of his fingers against hers.

"You already have," he whispered.

And then he was gone.

Seraphina stood there, heart pounding, watching the door he had just walked through.

She had come to this house expecting a loveless marriage, a husband she could not trust, and a life filled with duty.

What she hadn't expected—what she hadn't been prepared for—was the fire in his eyes when he looked at her.

And the fact that it was starting to burn her, too.