Julianne Vance didn’t move for a long moment, her eyes locked on Dante’s face as if she were staring at a ghost that had walked out of a fog. The shock on her face was sharp, but as the seconds ticked by, the terror began to curdled into something else.
Her posture straightened. The hand at her throat dropped, and a thin, icy smile touched her lips.
"Dante Virelli," she murmured, her voice losing its tremor and gaining a jagged edge of condescension. "I had heard rumors you were back in the city, but I didn't think you’d have the audacity to walk into a place like Crown Éternel."
She turned slightly to the staff, her emerald dress shimmering. "Do you remember him? From the academy? The 'Brilliant Heir' who was supposed to own half the province by now? Before the fall. Before the... disa
