Night returned to Nacrifa like velvet draped over a blade.
Beautiful.
Elegant.
Dangerous.
The entire palace glowed beneath thousands of crimson candles suspended magically through the air, their reflections dancing across polished obsidian floors and towering black marble walls.
Music echoed softly through the grand halls.
Ancient vampire instruments.
Slow violins.
Dark piano melodies.
Something hauntingly romantic.
Outside the palace windows, silver mist curled through the kingdom streets while the crimson barrier shimmered faintly across the skies above.
And for the first time in centuries—
the royal palace prepared for celebration instead of war.
Servants rushed endlessly through corridors carrying ceremonial fabrics, blood wine, silver goblets, jewel cases, invitation scrolls, and floral arrangements dark enough to resemble funeral offerings.
Mostly because Rael kept rejecting flowers for being "insufficiently dramatic."
