The feast went on, and the guests soon forgot the earlier incident, their words nothing but congratulations to Lila Thorne.
Only Kael Thorne and Elian Voss at the head table let their gazes drift towards me time and again.
Finally, when the last guest had left, I stepped out of the General's Manor gates with Lord Lucian.
But the second my fingertips brushed the carriage curtain, a hand clamped down hard on my wrist from behind.
I turned—and there stood two figures in the snow.
Kael's black cloak was dusted with snowflakes, the ones caught in his sideburns melting into tiny droplets, a sign of his urgency.
Elian had lost the poise he'd worn at the feast, his eyes swirling with emotions too tangled to name.
Instinctively, I glanced past them, expecting to see Lila.
She was nowhere to
