The dress fit like it was sewn onto my skin. Scarlet velvet clung to me, trimmed in black lace that whispered of danger. My pulse beat louder than my heels against the stone floor as I descended to the dining hall. The manor’s torches flickered, shadows twitching like watchful eyes, as though the walls themselves knew what tonight meant.
He was waiting.
Icarus stood at the head of the long oak table, a storm given form in dark clothes, his hair still damp from a recent wash. Candlelight kissed the sharp line of his cheekbones, glimmered in the cut of his jaw, but it was his eyes that made my steps falter. Gray and unyielding, softened only by the way they widened when they found me.
“You came,” he said, voice low, almost disbelieving.
“I told you I would.” My voice wavered, betraying m
