The final notes lingered in the air before fading to silence.
Alaric and Verelia stepped apart with mechanical precision, offering each other the bow and curtsy.
Polite applause rippled through the hall, nobles clapping with forced smiles, some genuinely admiring, others masking envy behind courteous praise.
"Lovely form," someone murmured nearby.
"Rather stiff though, wasn't it?"
"Well, they've only just—"
"Still, you'd think there'd be some chemistry..."
Cassius Blackmere, still nursing his wounded pride from earlier, raised his goblet with exaggerated courtesy.
"To the happy couple!" he called out, though the words tasted bitter on his tongue.
Verelia didn't wait for the applause to fully die, without so much as a glance at her newly announced fiancé she turned on her heel.
Her silver gown caught the light as she walked back toward the dais where her mother waited, each step measured and deliberate.
No thank you for the dance. No polite pleasantries. Nothing.
