Chapter 15 – Caelum

• Aria's mother is a bitter and distracted woman, the kind of person who carries the weight of wrong choices on her shoulders, though she rarely acknowledges it. She is the living example of a life that could have been but never was; an existence dragged through regrets and unfulfilled expectations. Seeing that woman sitting at the roulette table, pouring her grievances about her daughter as if I were a long-time confidant, filled me with a mix of disbelief and disdain. She spoke with a familiarity that bordered on the absurd, completely ignoring the fact that I was nothing more than a stranger to her.
• Using camouflage magic in my own casino is something I have been doing for a long time. It is a skill that has become almost instinctive, a necessity that has asserted itself as the years have passed and the attacks from the Wolfspawn Reneges have become more frequent. Being half enchantress, the ability to camouflage myself is something that offers me a rare freedom, allowing me to escape the suffocating protection of the castle guards and experience, if only for a few hours, life as an ordinary man. Here, amidst the neon lights and the metallic sound of coins dropping, I am just another player trying to distract himself from his own demons.
• After taking care of all the finances and restocking the establishment, I decided to play a few rounds at the casino, letting the roulette decide my fate for a few minutes. It was a futile effort, I knew, but anything that could take me away from the endless conflicts between Seraphina and me was worth the attempt. With every failed attempt at pregnancy, I feel like another brick is placed on the wall rising between us. What was once an easy and full-of-promises relationship has now turned into a silent battle, where the weapons are unsaid words and avoided glances. I do not know if it is my fault or hers if something is missing between us or if fate simply decided that we should not have a child. But it should not be this difficult, not for me, not for someone with my power and influence.