Fleur sat in her family's elegant salon, staring at the letter Ezekiel had sent her. His words had been careful, considerate—just as she had expected from him. But they did nothing to quell the storm raging inside her.
A marriage contract. An unbreakable one.
It shouldn't have mattered. This was something between him and Daphne Greengrass.
And yet—it did matter.
The moment she read it, she had felt something ugly twist in her chest. A possessiveness that she never expected to feel. It was irrational, unwarranted—but it was there.
And the worst part?
She wasn't even surprised.
She had felt drawn to him from the very first moment, the Veela side of her recognizing something she hadn't been able to put into words. And now, just when she had started to understand it—this had happened.
A knock at her door pulled her from her thoughts.
"Fleur?" It was her mother, Apolline Delacour.
Fleur hesitated before responding. "Come in."
Apolline entered gracefully, her knowing gaze settling on her daughter. "You have been lost in thought all morning."
Fleur sighed, setting the letter down. "It's about Ezekiel."
Apolline gave her a look, one that Fleur recognized immediately.
Her mother knew.
"Ah," Apolline said simply, sitting beside her. "Tell me."
Fleur hesitated. But then, the words spilled out—about the contract, about how she felt, about how unfair it all seemed.
Apolline listened patiently before she finally spoke.
"You already know what this means for you, don't you?" she asked gently.
Fleur clenched her fists. "It means I have no right to feel this way."
Apolline sighed. "It means that things are more complicated, yes. But feelings are rarely something we control, mon cœur."
Fleur bit her lip, refusing to let herself sound as frustrated as she felt.
"I thought—" She paused, then shook her head. "It does not matter what I thought."
Her mother gave her a knowing look. "You thought that the pull you feel toward him was yours alone to act on. That, in time, it would lead where it was meant to."
Fleur looked away, but she didn't deny it.
Apolline smiled softly. "Veela bonds are not so easily dismissed, Fleur."
That made Fleur tense. "But the contract—"
"The contract is real. But so is the connection between you and Ezekiel," Apolline said gently. "The question is not whether you can change it, because you cannot. The question is—what do you want to do?"
Fleur exhaled.
What did she want?
It would have been easy to be angry. To resent the situation. To blame Daphne, or even Ezekiel.
But the truth was—she couldn't.
Ezekiel hadn't hidden anything from her. The moment he had learned about the contract, he had told her. He had promised to visit France to talk about it in person. He had done everything he could to be honest with her.
And Daphne…
Fleur had never met her properly, but from everything she had heard, Daphne Greengrass wasn't some manipulative girl trying to steal him away. She was just as caught in this as he was.
There was no enemy here. No villain.
Just three people bound by things outside their control.
Finally, she closed her eyes and took a slow breath.
"I will not walk away from him," she said, quieter than before.
Apolline smiled. "I did not think you would."
Fleur opened her eyes, determination replacing the uncertainty.
"I do not know how this will end," she admitted. "But I will not give up simply because of an old contract."
Her mother reached out, placing a gentle hand over hers.
"Then be patient, mon cœur. The future has yet to be written."
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