Axel's rejection stung like an open wound rubbed raw with salt. I stood there, clutching his sleeve like a desperate fool, my fingers quivering with the need to hold onto something… anything.
I could feel Rosa's presence beside him, her stoic satisfaction that in the end, she's gotten what she wanted like she always did was so palpable and it made me sick.
I wasn't going to let this end like this. I couldn't risk being sent to live as the wife of a devious rogue.
"Axel," I whispered shakily.
I reached for him, needing to touch him, to feel something real in the nightmare my life had become. But before I could even graze his sleeve…
A sudden force slammed into my shoulder.
I gasped as I tumbled backward, landing hard against the tiled floor. A sharp pain exploded in my hip, and my palms stung from breaking my fall. For a moment, all I could hear was my own shallow breathing and the rushing sound of blood pounding in my ears.
