Author’s POV
Lucian's smile was the sort you'd flash at an opponent across a chessboard—polite enough to pass in public, but with all the warmth of a winter kill. It barely veiled the underlying contempt shimmering in his eyes.“No comment.”
Darius stiffened, trying to recall if there had ever been a moment—intentional or not—where he had slighted the Blackwood heir. Nothing surfaced, but the tension threading Lucian's posture told him loud enough: any offense had already been taken. Likely long ago.
He turned instead to Dorothy.She wasn't looking at him.
She was absorbing the ballroom, calm and confident, shoulder-to-shoulder with Lucian like they'd always belonged side by side. Darius's throat tightened.
He couldn't remember the last time Dorothy had stood that close to h
