Kaelen's POV
The moment Celestine swept back into the grand dining hall, moving with that familiar, effortless brightness and self-possession she always carried, the tight coil of tension in my shoulders instantly eased. Her re-entrance was timed with an almost uncanny precision, functioning as an unintentional shield—convenient, certainly, but devastatingly effective. If she had materialized even a few seconds earlier, she would have inevitably caught the raw, calculating look on my face—and Celestine, for all her superficial self-absorption, was ruthlessly perceptive when her self-interest demanded it.
But today, mercifully, she was thoroughly distracted, still subtly preening from the high she received from whatever conversation she had just concluded. She was visibly pleased with her
