Seraphina's POV
It took me a full minute to even process what had just happened.
The sharp sting across my face pulsed through every nerve in my head, and I could still hear the echo of the slap across my ear like a fire alarm.
For a moment, all I could do was blink—at the pain, at the embarrassment, and at the complete disbelief that someone had just laid their hand on me in the middle of the hallway.
And not just anyone. Iris. That little smug-faced, blue-eyed pest with her fake smile and irritating smirk.
She turned and started walking away like nothing had happened. Like slapping me was just another bullet point on her daily to-do list. Like I didn't matter, and something inside me snapped.
All the restraint I had shown so far in Elysium, being Seraphina Hook, all the peace I had been trying to maintain, and all the maturity I thought I needed to uphold—it cracked.
