Clara scoffed, crossing her arms. “Don’t be ridiculous. Our families already made arrangements. Our names are connected. You can’t just walk away from that.”
Lucian stepped closer, his height towering over her as he lowered his voice. “Watch me.”
Clara tilted her chin up, refusing to back down. “You think I’m just going to step aside? Let you humiliate me in public? After everything we’ve been through?”
“We haven’t been through anything real, Clara,” Lucian said, his tone sharper now. “We were an arrangement. A name on paper. That’s all it ever was.”
Clara’s face flushed. Her voice rose slightly, panic creeping into her words. “So what now? You’re throwing it all away for her? A woman who won’t ever understand your world?”
Lucian’s stare grew colder.
“I’m not choosing between two wom
