When Shadows Fall in Love

The rain had stopped. Morning sunlight filtered in through the tall glass windows of the Castellano mansion, painting golden streaks across the cold marble floor. For once, the halls did not echo with footsteps of guards or the rustle of secrets, for once it didn't carry a thick cold stench of heavy air, for once it felt a bit warm. It felt not like a house but a home now. They echoed with silence—expectant, gentle, like the mansion itself was holding its breath.

Seraphine sat curled in the velvet armchair of the drawing room, her knees tucked to her chest. Her dark curls were loose around her shoulders, damp from the shower, and her eyes—usually so guarded—were soft and distant, fixed on the horizon. The world outside looked peaceful, but inside her, a war still quietly raged and questions hammered her heart. Lucien entered first, wearing a grey sweater instead of his usual suit. A rare softness dulled the sharpness of his jaw. Asher followed, dressed similarly in a navy shirt, the bruises on his face now faded to dull yellow. Seraphine turned her neck so quick it was sure to crack. She stood up abruptly her eyes turned red at once as she started asking everything she had sealed within herself, since the funeral. 

"Lucien, what happened. Who's funeral was that? Who was the person who shot at the wedding the are they after me? Who is this guy and what's he doing here?"

Lucien raised a hand and gestured her to sit down saying, "The world would burn down if your neck cracked now"

Asher let loose a snicker and Lucien elbowed him. Then after an incense of silence, she heard Asher's voice—careful, gravelly, laced with guilt.

"I thought I lost you forever."

Seraphine turned her face slightly toward him and shot a questionable look at Lucien, but said nothing. Her fingers curled tighter around her legs.

"Don't tell me you don't recognise him because you should. He's your brother, the one fate hid from you." Seraphine's eyes widened, confusion swirling. Lucien stepped forward. "You were still in diapers when your parents tossed him out. Left him to rot near my estate like trash. He was fifteen. My father took him in. We trained together. Fought together. He was my right hand. We became more than brothers before I even knew you existed.. Until one day, he shattered it all. He chose betrayal over brotherhood.", he shot a glance at Asher, "Go on, Ash. Tell her everything."

Asher hesitantly stepped forward and sat down beside her. He took Seraphine's hand into her own, fingers interlaced. He let out a sigh before explaining further, "Seraphine, forgive me but I just distanced myself from you because I thought you would have followed into my dream of being an architect. The reason our parents left me before and you now."

"But it didn't matter did it? I still loved architecture." she replied quietly.

"I know", he sighed, "But it was worth a try wasn't it? I-I mean you could have been loved like Justin and Dustin are."

"But, I didn't want fake love only for the sake of family's future. And w-why did you— Lucien said you betrayed him?" she inquired.

Asher hesitated, his eyes not leaving Seraphine's face. The silence pressed down like a thick fog until he finally spoke.

"I didn't betray him," he said quietly. "I just left."

Lucien scoffed under his breath and turned away, jaw clenched. Seraphine's brows drew together as she glanced between the two men. Asher continued, voice rough. "I had to. The day I saw you... when Lucien brought your photograph to show me the girl his family had arranged for him to go on a date… I froze. You looked so much like me—so much like our mother. I knew then, without needing proof."

He swallowed hard. "I didn't want him anywhere near you."

Seraphine blinked, confused. "Why?"

Lucien cleared his throat then turned around, arms crossed, but his face was unreadable.

Asher looked her in the eye. "Because I know Lucien. I've known him since I was fifteen. He was the first person who ever made me feel like I wasn't alone. But... I also knew how easily he could charm, how quickly hearts fell aligned around him. I couldn't let that happen to you. Not you. Not when I knew your heart was already half-broken just by growing up the way you did."

Seraphine's lips parted, but no sound came out. Asher's grip on her hand tightened slightly.

"I thought I was protecting you. From the pain. From disappointment. From from… him."

Lucien's voice broke through like gravel over glass. "So you threw away everything we built? All for a hunch1? You didn't even give me a chance to prove myself."

Asher didn't flinch. "Would you have backed off if I'd asked you to?"

Lucien didn't answer.

"I know you," Asher said. "Better than anyone. And I thought… if you ever touched her heart, you'd tear it apart."

Seraphine finally spoke, her voice shaking. "But you were wrong."

The room fell silent.

Lucien smiled and took a slow step forward. "He was."

She looked at him—really looked—searching for truth behind the storm in his eyes.

Lucien's voice softened. "I never wanted to hurt you, my angel. I wanted to be the one to heal what everyone else broke."

Asher glanced away, guilt written in every shadow of his face. "I see that now," he whispered, "Lucien… Seraphine… I'm sorry. I should've trusted you, Lucien. Can you two forgive me?"

Lucien stood next to Asher and put his arm around his shoulder and whispered something only the two of them could hear, "Its fine, Ash. I will worship her like the goddess she is."

They both stared, eyes fixed at Seraphine. She slowly got up and walked towards them and asked, "Could I get a hug?"

"Why not?" replied Asher and Lucien together in harmony. 

In an instant, she was in their arms.

Asher's hold was strong and trembling, like someone afraid she'd vanish again. Lucien's embrace was quieter, but grounding—his arms circling her like a vow unspoken. Her face was buried between them, surrounded by the thudding of two hearts that had once been strangers, now beating for her.

Time slowed. The warmth of their bodies shielded her like armour, like home. She hadn't felt this safe in years—not since Grandma's lap, not since childhood. Outside, a breeze rustled the leaves, but in that room, everything stilled—three broken pieces of the same story finally fitting together.

Tears slipped from her lashes, but for once, they weren't from pain.

They were from healing.

Then as they separated, Lucien knelt in front of her and placed something on the table between them. A thin black velvet box.

She blinked. "What's that?"

"A piece of history," he said. "And something that belongs to you now."

She hesitated, then slowly reached forward. Inside the box was a delicate bracelet, woven with silver filigree and blue stones that shimmered faintly like moonlight on water.

"It was my mother's," Lucien explained quietly. "She wore it the day she married my father. And the day she died… it was still on her wrist. I couldn't bury it with her. I knew—somehow—I was meant to give it to someone who would carry it with just as much grace."

Seraphine stared at the bracelet, lips trembling. "Lucien…"

"You're my wife," he said softly, "but you're also… more than that. You're the first person who ever made me want to be better. the first one for whom I am ready to change myself."

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away, still not trusting herself to speak.

Then Asher stepped forward and pulled a folded paper from his back pocket. He unfolded it with shaking hands and placed it on the coffee table beside the box.

It was an old sketch—hers. One of the many she'd drawn in the attic, years ago when the only thing that kept her going was the dream of a life she thought would exist. A modern villa on a hill. Open spaces. Skylights. A garden blooming in the centre. A lot complicated for a 1 year old but she was a no ordinary 1 year old. She was gifted.

"You kept this?" she whispered.

"I found it in the box of things they were going to throw away," Asher said. "I—I kept everything I could find, Sera. Every scrap you ever drew. Every note you wrote. Even when I couldn't come back for you, I tried to keep your dream alive."

Seraphine swallowed hard, finally looking at her brother fully.

"You're really him," she said. "The boy I saw in a photo once. The one they said ran away. I used to pretend you lived in Paris or Rome, becoming someone great. Not… not someone like me."

Asher sat beside her. "I did run away. But I never stopped being your brother. I wanted to come back. I just didn't know how to undo the damage."

"You couldn't have," she said. "They never wanted us to be siblings. They buried your name the day you left."

"I should have fought harder."

"You did enough," she whispered. Then she looked at Lucien. "You both did."

Lucien reached out and took her hand. "There's something else."

She looked at him, confused.

"I pulled some strings," he said with a faint smile. "Well, I threatened a few people… nicely. You've been enrolled in the top architecture university in Italy. You start next month."

Seraphine's breath caught. "What?" her eyes shone bright.

"Full scholarship. Private studio. I even arranged for a mentor—she's a renowned architect and a close contact of the Vade family."

"You—you did that for me?"

"For the woman who rebuilt a ruined man's heart with nothing but kindness? Of course, I did."

She burst into tears, this time unable to stop them. Asher put an arm around her, and Lucien pulled her into his chest. She sobbed for every year lost, every wound buried, every dream she had folded and tucked away in fear.

"I thought I was nothing," she choked. "I thought if I disappeared, no one would notice."

Lucien's voice was barely above a whisper. "They didn't deserve to have you. But I do. And I will never make you feel invisible again."

"You don't have to become anyone else now," Asher added. "You're already everything we needed."

She held them both, forehead pressed against Lucien's shoulder.

"Thank you," she said through tears. "For seeing the true me."

When the tears dried, they sat in the quiet again, this time not cold but warm—heavy with understanding and the comfort of presence.

Lucien lifted the bracelet gently and fastened it around her wrist.

She looked at it glinting against her skin and smiled.

It felt like the end of a chapter. But more importantly, the beginning of her own.

She looked up at her husband and then their eyes were forever inseparable.