Lana’s POV
The echoes of applause still lingered faintly in my mind long after the ceremony ended. The lights, the whispers, the way everyone’s eyes had followed me after that speech, it all replayed like a film stuck on loop. But now that it was all over, and I had finally returned to the quiet of my hotel suite, all that confidence I had worn like armor began to c***k.
The door clicked shut behind me. I dropped the elegant clutch from my hand, kicked off my heels, and tugged the pins out of my hair. My curls fell around my shoulders in disarray. My reflection in the mirror across the room looked… different — not the woman who had stood tall and spoken fearlessly before the council, but someone smaller, softer, stripped bare.
I sank into the sofa with a long, trembling breath. My gown
