Page 114 of Smoke, Mirrors, & Misdemeanours

“I’ve been working on the Starlight situation,” he finally said. “Rhodes and Caius have been checking with their contacts. Our lawyer Briony submitted a challenge. There’s a chance⁠—”

“Ark.” She said his name gently, her hand on his arm. “Not tonight.”

He paused, studying her. She read his tension, the way his mind was already back in the Registry offices. Her chest was full of the same anxiety, but tonight was half the reason they’d started this whole arrangement: his mother’s ball. They’d been working toward this night for two weeks.

She wasn’t about to let anyone steal it too.

“I just want tonight to be ours,” she said, softer. “Not Alderrath’s. Not the Registry’s.” A pause. “Not even Starlight’s. Ours.”

The tension in his shoulders eased.

“You’re right,” he said, settling back. “Let us enjoy tonight, then.”

Cassia watched the snow drift past the window. The warmth of his hand around hers drew her gaze to their entwined fingers. The enormity of the moment ballooned in her chest.

“Are you nervous?” she asked, and realized she wasn’t sure if she was asking him or herself.

He looked at her. “More awed than nervous,” he said, without a trace of humour. “And not of the ball.”

She stared at him. He wasn’t afraid of the Echelons or their judgment, or his mother. He was in awe of this—of how much it already meant, how big and precious it had become. She felt the same way. She’d been carrying that same awe for days now, afraid to name it, afraid that saying it aloud might somehow break the spell.

But she held his hand anyway.

They rode in silence. Angelene’s city lights fell away as they traveled north, swallowed by the slow, silver dusk of winter. Buildings gave way to open fields, bare trees casting long shadows over rolling hills. Snow gathered on rooftops, fence posts, and in the crooks of branches like sugar sifted from the sky.

Cassia watched the scenery change—the indigo deepening, the stars brightening the farther north they went. Wind stirred powdery snow into flurries across the road, but the carriage never slowed. They passed a frozen lake ringed with reeds and willows, a family of deer standing motionless at its edge before bounding out of sight through the woods.

And then, up ahead, the first shape emerged—tall black iron gates, pristine and ornate. The sigil of the Varil family gleamed at their centre, catching the carriage’s glow.

The gates parted without a sound. Her hand squeezed his.

Beyond them lay a long, winding driveway flanked by towering oaks—ancient and dignified, their bare limbs had been wrapped in strands of tinsel-light, subtle and gold, winking like thousands of fireflies caught in midwinter. The entire drive glittered like something out of a fairy tale, a corridor of illumination.

Ark didn’t speak. He only watched her face as the carriage continued forward. Then, at last, the manor itself appeared, looming at the end of the driveway. It was grand, imposing, built from pale-grey stone with carved eaves and tall mullioned windows, every one of them aglow. Magic shimmered across the rooftops in pulsing, protective waves. Ivy clung to its towers, dusted with frost. And somewhere high above, faint bells rang as snow began to fall again, slow and crystalline.

“Ark,” she murmured. “It’s . . . breathtaking.”

His gaze stayed on her. “It is. But it never felt like home.”

Cassia looked over, not surprised by the admission. She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, his thumb tracing slow circles on her knuckles. She felt the tension in his grip—the tension of someone returning to a place he hesitated to step foot in.

She thought of her own home. She loved that house with her whole heart and couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else. But Ark never had that.

“When was the last time you were here?” she asked.

“Four years ago,” he said after a pause. “Maybe five.”

Her brow shot up. “But you live an hour away.”

“I know.”

The carriage slowed. Ahead and behind, other carriages glided toward the manor’s entrance, each more elaborate than the last. Nobles in velvet cloaks stepped out, buffed horns and claws gleaming, circlets nestled in curls. Cassia spotted a familiar sigil on a passing crest—House Isca, one of Meredith’s oldest witch bloodlines. Their scion stepped down, shaking snow from her Verdanic-green cloak. Her sisters followed, all three wearing the same shade of green, sweeping inside with the effortless confidence of those born to be noticed. High-ranking witches, elven nobles, human politicians and society darlings—all ascending the steps. Footmen guided carriages along the circular drive, ushering guests toward the illuminated double doors. Magic popped every so often—wards checking identities, scanning for glamours and concealed weapons.

Cassia’s breath misted on the carriage window. This wasn’t an ordinary ball. It was a stage—and each guest would be both an audience and a critic, judging and being judged in return.

“Will Caius and Rhodes be here?” she asked, her hands clammy. She wiped them discreetly on her skirt.

“Sir and Lady Elios might be on the guest list, but not Rhodes. And certainly not Caius.”