Theo's thumb brushed across my knuckles, a small gesture of support. "Ready to face the wolves?" he murmured, his eyes twinkling with humour at his own joke.
I rolled my eyes but couldn't suppress my smile. "Born ready," I replied, taking a deep breath and stepping forward to rejoin the gathering, my hand firmly in his.
I stepped back into the dining room beside Theo, the weight of a hundred gazes falling on us like autumn leaves – gentle but impossible to ignore. His hand rested at the small of my back, a warm anchor in the sea of formality that stretched before us. The low murmur of conversation dimmed as heads bowed in our direction, a gesture that still felt foreign against my skin after only a week of this new life. A queen. Me. The thought clung to my mind like morning dew, beautif
