Prologue
"Some stars laugh as they hide—because even destiny cannot tame them forever."
Moonlight drifted gently over the grand estate of Duke Alaric von Ravenshade, silvering the ivy-clad walls and quiet courtyards with a hush that felt almost sacred. The world seemed calm beneath the stars, unaware of the unseen currents that flowed through it.
Sherrina von Ravenshade wandered the gardens with light, unhurried steps.
She looked delicate—almost fragile. Silver hair caught the moonlight like spun glass, and her purple eyes held a calm, cheerful softness that invited warmth rather than caution. To those who knew her, she was the Duke's adopted daughter: kind, polite, a little absent-minded, and far too gentle to survive the harsher corners of the world.
Perhaps even weak.
And yet—
she hummed softly as she walked, barefoot on cold stone, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips as she slipped somewhere she absolutely was not supposed to be. Sneaking out had always been far more interesting than behaving properly. Rules, after all, were suggestions—especially when curiosity beckoned.
Sherrina saw the world differently.
Not with fear, nor awe, but with quiet amusement.
Auras shimmered faintly around every living being—soft lights of emotion, shadows of sorrow, flickers of intent. Some glowed warm and steady. Others were tangled, restless… wrong. Dark traces lingered in the air at times, heavy and whispering, clinging to certain presences like unseen chains.
She noticed them all.
And then, smiling sweetly, she pretended she did not.
She laughed when she should have fled, tilted her head when the air grew heavy, and carried herself with a calm that felt almost careless. It was easy to underestimate someone who seemed too gentle, too cheerful, too quietly amused by the world.
Danger passed close sometimes.
It always did.
Yet it never touched her.
Sherrina hid her awareness as easily as she hid her strength—beneath laughter, beneath curiosity, beneath a faintly wicked sparkle that suggested she knew more than she ever let on. There was something untamed in her serenity, something playful and unruly, as though she were constantly one step ahead of the world and enjoying the secret far too much.
The night itself seemed to pause when she passed. Shadows shifted. Auras hesitated. Even the unseen darkness recoiled, uncertain.
But no one noticed.
She was only the adopted daughter of Duke Alaric von Ravenshade.
A gentle girl.
A harmless girl.
A girl who smiled too easily and broke rules with graceful defiance.
This was Sherrina.
And though the world believed her ordinary—
though no one yet sensed the truth beneath her calm—
the veil was already thinning.
Far above, the stars watched in quiet anticipation.
For Aster's Veil had begun.
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