(Nicholas)
I didn't know what to do anymore. Ever since my talk with Seraphina, I haven't seen her, and I had been stuck in my room, not having the guts to go out there to face the judgment.
Her parents didn't like me and I knew that the people here at the castle hated me as well. Who wouldn't? I have done so many things I'm not proud of. Betrayal, deception, and mistakes that I can't erase no matter how much I wish I could.
Seraphina said that she believes in me, and although our relationship wasn't based on love, but politics, I couldn't help but want to be a better man for her.
She saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself—a potential for redemption, for change. Her words had been a lifeline, pulling me out of the self-loathing and the pity that I felt for myself.
Maybe she was right. I used Isabella to gain more power in the royal court. I knew that I didn't love her because my feelings were elsewhere.
