Serenity's POV
The lie settles cleanly.
I can tell by the way Celestine’s shoulders relax—not all at once, but gradually, like a coil easing back into its place. Pride does the work suspicion can’t. It always does. I’ve learned that much already.
She smiles wider, pleased, basking in the implication that the song meant something because she played it, because she was memorable. Alpha Veyra looks satisfied too, as if the narrative has aligned itself neatly without his having to force it. Alpha Dravenhart remains neutral, observant, saying little, but his silence carries approval simply by absence of objection.
I stand where I am and let them talk around me.
This is the dangerous part—not the confrontation, not the accusations, but the lull afterward. The moment where everyone assumes t
