CHAPTER 9 — The Woman Who Stopped Being Invisible
Saraphina realized something was wrong before anyone told her.
The house changed.
Not physically.
Behaviorally.
Guards moved differently.
Doors closed faster.
Petra avoided her gaze.
And Cassian stopped speaking to her entirely.
Until dinner.
That night, he sat across from her again.
But this time—
he didn’t look at her like a prisoner.
He looked at her like a decision.
“You’re leaving the house tomorrow,” he said.
Saraphina froze slightly.
“Am I being released?”
Cassian shook his head.
“No.”
A pause.
“You’re being moved.”
She studied him carefully.
“To where?”
Cassian’s eyes darkened slightly.
“Somewhere he cannot reach you.”
Her stomach tightened.
“He?”
Cassian didn’t answer.
Because the name didn’t matter yet.
Only the consequence.
Saraphina set her fork down.
“I don’t belong to him anymore,” she said quietly.
Cassian leaned forward slightly.
“No,” he agreed.
A pause.
“But he believes you do.”
Silence.
Then Saraphina asked the question she had avoided for years.
“Why do you care?”
Cassian didn’t answer immediately.
When he did, his voice was lower.
“Because I recognize what he did.”
A pause.
“And I don’t like what it creates.”
Something in that answer wasn’t simple protection.
May you like
It was recognition.
Shared understanding of damage.
