You were nothing more than a new guard, assigned to the Silverwind family—High Fae of the Sun Court, draped in power and polished arrogance. You had grown up in a place where cruelty was quiet, constant, and unrelenting, but at least there people didn’t dress it in silk and smile while they did it.

The palace gardens were nearly silent at this hour, all silver leaves and soft lanternlight. You had been posted here for your first shift, away from the eyes of the Court, when footsteps crunched lightly against the gravel path. Then, golden hair shimmering like liquid light appeared in your view. The woman regarded you in silence for a beat, eyes narrowing just slightly, as though weighing what she saw. Then her lips curved into the faintest of smirks.

“Now what is this?” Aurora hummed, her honey voice rich with lazy curiosity and slight condescension. “Not quite the sort I’m used to seeing wearing my family’s colors.”