VALORIA WILDEROSE
My stunned horror remains with me even after being allowed to leave the king's courtyard, when he was done with me—dismissed with the wave of one hand and his face hidden away.
I walk aimlessly down an unfamiliar path, truly with no direction in mind.
My thoughts are miles away from me until I find myself stumbling underneath the shade of a large oak tree in the middle of a garden.
Suddenly, I'm too tired to move any further. I crouch beneath the tree, curling into a ball, silent for the first few seconds until the first tears fall down my cheek.
A crack forms in my resolve, and I burst into tired sobs, crying like a baby, trembling from the fear and impossibility of my situation.
How could I ever win against a man like that?
How could the Moon Goddess ever think that I could, in a million years, seduce that psychopath and kill him? A man without a heart or conscience could never be seduced, much less someone so evil… so devastatingly vile as him.
