I look around myself at the crowds of people waving off their loved ones, mixed expressions of sorrow and joy gracing their faces. The railway station is a bustling platform of both high- and low-class people, all of them happily headed to their respective destinations, all of them holding their beloveds close, all of them oblivious to the turmoil wrenching my soul.

A hand rubs on my shoulder and I turn to face Mary. "He is outside in the coach. Are you ready for this?"

A single tear rolls down my cheeks. I nod, my eyes moving to a desolate corner, where the outline of a figure can be seen if one looks extremely closely.

"Yes. I'm ready." I whisper.

Mary grits her teeth, her eyes filled with an unfamiliar malice. "I hate this. I hate that this is about to happen and there is nothing any of us can do."

"Me too." I say simply.

Mary turns and walks out of the railway station and I brace myself against a nearby pillar, preparing myself for what is to come. I have to do this, I have no choice, I remind myself over and over again, Maybe it's for the best. Every moment he spends with me is a moment taken off his life. I take a deep, shuddering breath, my chest tightening with the intimate sensation of my healing heart shattering again. Its for the best, It's for the best, it's for the best. My heartache turns physical and the room begins to spin. It's for the best, it's for the best, it's for the best. Sweat beads on my forehead and my hands are clammy; I gasp for breath. It's for the best, it's for -

"Are we going on holiday?" A cheerfully chirpy voice calls from behind me.

I rapidly compose myself and turn to Damon, taking in his neatened appearance, his gleaming eyes and finally, the suitcase in his hand.

"Not exactly." I mutter. "I have something to tell you, Damon."

"Well, whatever it is, it can wait." Damon exclaims. "I have not seen you all morning!" He pulls me into his arms, squeezing me tightly to him, his fingers gently massaging my scalp. I close my eyes against his embrace, attempting to hold myself together, relishing his hold for one last time. One last time, before it all ends.

I pull back and say, "Damon, this is serious. I have something to tell you."

Damon regards me carefully and his overjoyed expression fades. "Ok, Ellie. Tell me, darling. What is it?"

I turn away from him, not strong enough to see his face, his reaction to the words I am about to say.

"I don't love you, Damon."

I hear a sharp intake of breath and tears roll down my cheeks, my throat clogging up with emotion. But I carry on, spinning a web of lies that I have been long entangled in.

"I don't love you. I love... Emmanuel. I love him. I... When you and Mother helped me, I was... in love with him. I - I did not know how to say no to you. You were my best friend. You are my best friend. I could not bear to break your heart like that, after everything you did for me. I was supposed to tell you in the coach, but then we stopped and those men nearly caught us... I forgot. Then, the wedding, everything happened so quickly - but I cannot keep doing this, Damon. I cannot keep lying to you."

I stop talking, my head bowed with the weight of my lies. There is only silence between Damon and I. Then a chuckle. Then a laugh and two hands clasp my shoulders. "Ha. Ha. Ha. You amuse me to no ends, my beautiful wife. In love with Emmanuel! Ha!"

With a heartbreaking move, I step out of Damon's hold. "No. I am speaking nothing but the truth. Damon, I love you, but as a best friend. I think... I think we have both gotten carried away. What were we thinking? I belong with Emmanuel."

"Yes, yes, but you don't, really. You belong with me, with Damon. You are Mrs Damon Wilcox."

I turn to face Damon, tears streaming down my face in steady waves. "But I don't want to be Mrs Damon Wilcox."

Damon stares at me, realisation dawning on his face, pain clouding his beautiful eyes. Another crack rips through my heart. "Eloise, please. No, not now. I love you, Eloise. I love you so much. You can't love Emmanuel. He has put you through so much, he has killed your horse, he has attempted to kill you, he has threatened to kill you. You could never love such a man! I know you couldn't!"

"He changed, Damon." I lie through my rotten teeth. "After he killed Chastity, he changed. He began to love me, to be kind to me, to protect me from his mother. He reminded me of you - "

"Don't!" Damon whispers, tears gathering in his eyes. "Don't compare him to me! Am I not worthy of your love, Eloise? Is that it? Am I not good enough to be loved by you?"

"No, Damon!" I shake my head desperately. "I do love you, I do, just - "

"Just not enough, right?" Damon laughs mirthlessly, tears spilling forth from his eyes. "I love you, I have given up everything for you, I sacrificed so much to get you away from him, I put my life on the line so many times for you. You could have said - just one time - that you did not love me and I would have left. I would have let you be happy. Why did you do this to me? Why did you marry me? Why did you accept my ring? Because you pitied me? Because you felt sorry for the poor servant boy?"

"Damon, you are not a servant boy." I step forward, but Damon steps back, holding a hand up.

"Do not touch me, Eloise. I do not want your touch. It does not belong to me - it belongs to the monster, am I right? You want to go back to him, the man who killed the very horse that you spent months healing and raising? You want to go back to the man who has beaten you and trapped you and starved you? You love a man who could lock you up without food and water for days?! You fell in love with a man like that?! I mean... I apologise. I apologise for not being like that."

"Damon, I'm sorry." I sob, putting my head in my hands.

"Why did you call me here?" Damon asks. "Why did you make me pack my stuff?"

I groan inwardly and then say, "Emmanuel is coming to get me tonight. You have to leave."

Damon's shoulders slump and he regards me with venom in his eyes. "Was it so easy? Was it that easy to replace me? Just tell me to pack my stuff and go away so you can live your life with the monster you love?"

I shake my head in denial, gasping from the strength of my sobs, aching for oxygen, my body wrecked with sorrow and aching.

"Well, okay. I shall leave. I shall leave and never return. I will let you live your life with a monster. When he breaks you - and he will - do not come looking for me, because even though I will love you for the rest of my life, I will not have pity for you."

My hand is prised from my face and something hard and warm is pressed into it. I open my tear-filled eyes to see Damon's wedding ring glaring up at me. The engraving 'Yours Forever' taunts me, laughing at my pitiful state, laughing at what I have let happen. I look at the ring and then up at Damon, who just shakes his head in disgust.

"What, did you assume I would keep it? Why would I keep it?" Damon towers over me. "You have shown me that this ring has no meaning to you - why should I torture myself by wearing it for the rest of my life?"

A steam train whines and hisses as it rolls into the station, like the Grim Reaper arriving to collect a spirit after a tragic death. Smug, dominating, but with a hint of sadness at it's task.

Damon looks down at me, his eyes scanning my face before saying, "Well, I have to go."

He walks past me, his arm gently brushing my side. I close my eyes against the pain.

"Wait!" I call, whipping around to face Damon. Damon stops and turns to me. "Damon, can we - can we still be friends?"

Damon stares at me, his eyes softening for a moment. Then he stiffens and his eyes go dark. "I guess you really are naïve, Eloise."

With that, the rest of my heart finally shatters and I watch as Damon boards the train, wiping his wet cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt, leaving without a single glance back to me. The train speeds off, leaving emotional relatives, a gust of wind that slaps my dress around and a broken heart that has no hope of ever being mended. Not now.

My feet finally collapse and I fall to the floor, on my knees, staring blindly at the spot the train just occupied, that Damon just occupied. The pain floods my body, my blood runs cold, I can hear my heartbeat, hear my wrenching breaths, feel my heart thump itself against my chest, I can see tears dampening my dress, I can see everything but it does not make a difference. I might as well be blind, be deaf, be mute. The torture I am experiencing does not have room for words, for description. It is taking me, taking me quick and holding me, binding me to a life void of feeling anything for anyone.

Feet appear before me and I look up to Emmanuel's smug face. "Very well done. Damon will not be killed and you have your freedom." Then he walks away.

You have your freedom. But at what cost? Of my love? Of my life?

I scream, clutching my chest, attempting to rip out that empty hole of pain and misery residing there. I scream, striking my fist against my head, attempting to erase all memories of love, of loss, of pain. I scream, slapping my face maniacally, wanting to deform it, erase it so that no one loves me again. I scream, scratching at my neck, hoping to get that one fateful vein that will end my pain, my misery. I scream, pulling at my hair, wanting to get rid of the thing that Damon spent hours running his hands through. I scream and scream and scream. I bang my fists against the wall, against the pillars, I scream until my throat is sore, until all my body parts ache with bruises and cuts and scratches.

That is when Mary steps in, helping me to my feet, her cheeks soaked with tears. "Come on, darling. Let's go home, honey."

Two weeks later, I find out I am pregnant.