Chapter 41 : The Pond

TW: Mentions of domestic abuse and sexual assault

Seraphina's POV

I'd nearly forgotten what William had looked like. Most of my memories had contorted him into the monster he was on the inside. The man who smiled whenever he drew blood. The same one that got a feral gleam in his eye whenever I cried.

I never knew what he was thinking, which only caused me to be anxious and terrified every second of the day. William preferred that. Seeing me strung out on exhaustion because I was so scared he'd hurt me again.

He always did. Just a matter of when.

When I was especially nervous, he would draw it out. Move suddenly to get me to flinch and cry out in shock. Only in private. He wouldn't do it in public. Even though I doubted people would bat an eye. His image was everything.

Image was power.

And what he did to me was a dirty little secret between him and me. I don't think the elders even knew what happened when he came up to me in the dark.

But the monster that grinned and s