Aurelia POV
The morning of the ceremony arrived bright and clear, as though the sky had chosen to cooperate with Serena's triumph.
I woke before dawn, my small bag already packed and hidden under a loose floorboard I discovered years ago, a detail of my room I never had reason to use until now. I dressed, and made my way through the quiet corridors toward the kitchen, where a full day of ceremony preparations waited.
The residence buzzed with barely contained excitement. Servants moved faster than usual, their voices bright with anticipation, their conversations filled with speculation about the ceremony's details. What Serena would wear. What Ragnar would say. Whether the celebration afterward would rival the mating ceremony itself in scale.
Nobody had, really, since the night of the
