First message
The music was a river of silk and laughter, swirling around me like a current I couldn’t navigate. I kept to the edge, a silver ghost in pale blue, my smile feeling as thin as the lace at my sleeves. I watched my sister across the room, a perfect, solemn doll beside Valerion’s towering pride, and willed myself to be smaller, unseen. Then he was there, a stranger with kind eyes the colour of summer oak, cutting through the crowd with an easy grace. He bowed, his smile not the sharp, evaluating thing I was used to, but something warm and genuine. “My lady,” he said, his voice soft beneath the violins. “Might I steal you from the shadows? They don’t suit you.” My heart, a frightened bird trapped in a cage of bone, gave a single, painful flutter of hope. For a terrifying, glorious moment, I forgot the taste of blood and the sound of my own name spoken as a curse. I forgot to check if Valerion was watching. I simply placed my hand in his, and let him lead me into the light.