Ivy’s POV
The days after the banquet passed like a dream.
Not the kind that disappears the moment you open your eyes, but the kind that lingers long after you wake. The kind that changes everything. I kept waiting for something to go wrong, for the warmth between us to crack under the weight of who we used to be. But it didn’t. And maybe for the first time, I let myself believe that it wouldn’t.
Leon had been different.
He still walked like a man used to being obeyed. Still moved with the silent authority of someone who could command a room with a look. But something in him had softened—something quiet and careful. Something only I was allowed to see.
He didn’t speak of love in loud declarations. But it was in the way he looked at me. The way his hand always found mine, like he needed
