Seven days.
The number seemed to follow Aliena everywhere.
Every servant who greeted her reminded her.
Every noble who bowed congratulated her.
Every hallway she walked through echoed with the same sentence.
"Only seven days until the royal wedding."
Seven days.
She should have been excited.
She was.
She truly was.
But beneath that excitement lay something she couldn't explain.
The dream.
The silver flowers.
The little boy with golden eyes.
The promise.
And the strange ache in her heart whenever she looked at Sebastian.
It wasn't fear.
It was recognition.
Like meeting someone she had spent an entire lifetime searching for.
***
The palace was unusually lively that morning.
Tailors rushed through the corridors carrying garments covered in embroidered gold.
Servants climbed ladders to hang crystal chandeliers.
Fresh flowers arrived every hour.
The palace orchestra practiced in the eastern ballroom, their music floating through the halls.
