Elsa’s POV
The gown lay across the bed like a trap. Rich velvet dyed the color of midnight, its sleeves embroidered with threads of silver that shimmered like frost. It was beautiful, far more beautiful than anything I had ever touched, let alone worn. But as I sat on the edge of the bed staring at it, I felt no pride. Only heaviness.
The Luna’s chamber was quiet except for the crackling of the fireplace. Everything around me gleamed polished wood, silk curtains, a carved wardrobe filled with gowns I had never dared imagine. And yet all of it felt alien. A cage wrapped in velvet.
My mind wasn’t here. Not in this room, not in this house, not in this life that had turned upside down in the space of a single day. My thoughts drifted back, again and again, to Lila.
I pictured her small fra
