Chapter 55 This Time

• I stood frozen long after Florian vanished into the darkness, his parting words ringing in my ears. The weight of his revelation felt like a stone lodged in my chest. Arabelle was alive. I had betrayed her, sided with Florence and the church, and now she lived—somewhere, suffering because of my cowardice. The ground beneath my feet felt unsteady as though my whole world had shifted with those words.
• For the first time in years, ambition had left me. It had ruled every decision I made, guided every step I took. My marriage to Arabelle had been a means to an end, a way to rise higher in the court. I had wanted power, control, to cement my place in Eternia. Florence had offered that when she’d come to me with the plan. She had whispered promises of glory, of a future where I could reign over Wilkshire without fear. All it took was one sacrifice. Arabelle.
• But now... now all I felt was guilt, gnawing at me like a disease. How had I let myself become this man? The kind who would sell out his own wife for a crown? And now she was out there, suffering, possibly even hating me for what I had done.