Darian's POV
I don’t tell Serenity I’m coming.
I don’t text. I don’t call. I don’t even hover over her name long enough to pretend I might. She made it clear—clean, decisive—that she didn’t want me in her orbit. So I don’t intrude. I don’t announce myself. I just show up.
Presence without permission. Silence instead of pressure.
The venue is already full when I arrive, washed in light and money and the kind of quiet that only exists where power gathers. I slip in without ceremony, no entourage, no recognition I care to acknowledge. If anyone knows who I am, they don’t show it. Good. Tonight isn’t about me being seen.
I take a seat toward the middle, far enough to observe, close enough to hear. The piano is already occupied.
Celestine Veyra.
She sits like she belongs there—posture pe
