He knew exactly how much Elara and I were sworn enemies.
After my father remarried, Vittoria Corsetti and her daughter became the most persistent shadows of my childhood. The beatings behind closed doors. The isolation. The burning of my mother's letters. All of it hidden behind the Valente name while the name still meant something.
I had imagined countless scenarios over the past two years of our separation.
Ansel might fall for someone else, I thought, but I never expected him to fall for Elara. I never anticipated that he would go so far as to agree to let me be humiliated at the union ceremony just to please her.
I submerged myself in a warm bath, the heat gradually stopping my trembling. The water stilled around me. My breathing slowed until it was almost nothing, a long, measured silence, the kind that comes when a decision has already been made and the body is simply catching up.
Then, Ansel's call came in.
"Serafina, where are you? I'm already at the seaside park!"
I stayed silent.
Ansel grew anxious.
"Serafina, what's wrong? Are you upset?"
"Where are you? I'll come get you right now."
He remained as attentive and careful as ever, able to pick up on my emotions and offer comfort.