The air at the Crescent Vale Summit was electric—charged not by lightning, but by politics, power, and predatory charm. Sophia stood like a carved queen beneath the chandeliered dome, her gown an obsidian sheath that caught light like sharpened onyx. She didn’t smile, not truly. Just enough to leave them guessing.
And among the gathered dignitaries and supernatural elite, Darius moved.
Bold. Beautiful. Unapologetically disruptive.
Ethan saw it first when Darius offered her his hand, unprompted, and Sophia—cold, calculating Sophia—took it. That moment cleaved the room in two. Those who gasped. And those who watched in silence, knowing something tectonic had just shifted beneath their feet.
Darius didn’t speak low. He didn’t hide his intent. “You’re the most dangerous thing in this room,
