Lila's P.O.V
My fingers trembled as I clutched the envelope, the wax seal gleaming under the dim candlelight in my quarters. Madam Lavigne hovered in the doorway, her eyes wide with a mix of concern and curiosity, but she didn't press. "If you need anything, my lady, just ring the bell," she murmured before retreating down the hall, her footsteps echoing softly on the wooden floors.
I closed the door with a click, leaning against it for a moment to steady myself. The events of the night swirled in my mind like the storm outside—Ma Felicia's twisted confessions, the mud-caked struggle, the revelations about Shay and Father that shattered everything I thought I knew. And now this letter from The Order, the council of elders she'd mentioned with such smug certainty. "They've known all along
