Marcel: Seraphina stood at the far end of the corridor, staring at a closed door as though she could burn a hole through it with pure rage. Her spine was rigid. Her jaw clenched. Her fingers trembling with a fury she couldn’t swallow. A crack in the armor. Finally. I leaned against the wall, arms crossed, pretending not to watch, but not bothering too hard. She was too consumed by her humiliation to notice. When Alexander rejects a woman, he doesn’t do it subtly. And Seraphina? She wasn’t built to handle subtlety, let alone rejection. She brushed past me without a word, perfume too strong, expression too composed to be real. “Rough night?” I asked lightly. “Because it seems to me that you’re burning holes to the walls, door, and anything that you’re looking at,” She paused. J

