The preparations for the feast kept me occupied enough to at least partially distract me from the fact that my best friend, the girl I had viewed as a sister, was in the same castle as me. Varek had allowed her to stay in one of the guest suites, as a gesture of goodwill, to hopefully convince her that staying for the feast was simply another complimentary gift. I had taken over planning it, deciding the menu and the décor, finalizing the guest list, and coordinating the seating chart. The dowager had tried on numerous occasions to insert herself into my planning, but so far I had managed to maintain my independence in the endeavor. I claimed it was good practice for when the expectation would be for the Luna to take on these roles, but really I wanted everything just so. I wanted to make
