As the early light seeped around the curtains, Serena remained immobile. Her eyes were red from crying, her body weakened from grief, but her heart had hardened in a way it never previously had.
She had been fooled all along. And now she understood.
As the palace awakened again, Serena did not move from the bed. The footsteps of the maids were heard in the hallways, voices distant borne on the wind. But she was still, her gaze at nothing.
Her reality was destroyed. Reality had stripped away all illusions.
And standing there, alone in her own bedroom, Serena knew that she had but one way left to turn.
The first dawn seeped in through the drapes, soft and pale, but it failed to melt Serena's heart. She had laid awake all night in tears, her face dry of all moisture, her body burdened wi
