Flora's heart ached as she looked at Alexander, a part of her foolishly wanting to believe he was here to save her. But the cold reality slammed into her. He wasn’t her knight. He was here for the same reason as Reginald—to force her to surrender the gem, the one thing she had sworn to protect. Her grip tightened around the thought that she couldn’t let it happen, not even if it cost her her life.
She bit her lip hard, drawing blood. I loved him. The man standing there now, complicit in her suffering, was the man she had given everything to. She was his mistake, maybe even his regret, but she had never regretted a single moment with him. Even now, even after all of this.
“Flora, just hand it over,” Alexander repeated, his voice cold and void of the love they once shared.
But Flora had
