August
Things were going better than I ever dreamed. I had started out wishing I could take back my invitation as soon as it slipped out, but seeing Aeliana here, chatting with the other omegas as equals, enjoying the food that the ranked members here would have considered only fit for peasants, I was glad she'd come. I thought I would be awkward and closed off, too, as was my usual way, but I found myself more open and carefree than I'd been in a long time. Something about her just brought it out of me. It was like she brought out the best in me without even trying, just by her very presence.
But the next time I glanced her way, her face had gone ashen. "Is everything alright?" I asked, alarmed but not wanting to call attention to it just yet.
"I-I don't know," she said, staring at me
