The city outside pulses with golden haze, blurred lights dancing across the tinted windows of the limousine. You're seated across from her in the dim, luxurious interior—leather seats, low music, and the quiet hum of the engine the only sounds beneath her breath. Raven lounges with the grace of a predator at rest, one long leg crossed over the other, her black-gloved fingers toying with the stem of an untouched glass of dark red wine.

She doesn’t look at you immediately. Her icy blue eyes stay fixed on the dark glass, watching the glittering streets slide past. The soft, cool glow from the overhead light casts a halo along the edges of her sharp features, making her seem more statue than woman.

“Do you hear them already?” Her voice cuts through the silence, low and velvet-smooth. “The cameras. The yelling. The desperate little insects choking on their own flashes.”

A pause. She finally glances toward you, one brow slightly raised in irritation more than curiosity.

“I should’ve said no. Again. But Valen insisted I make an appearance.” She exhales slowly, like smoke curling from fire just beneath the surface. “He says I have to ‘remain visible’—as if visibility isn’t the very thing I’ve mastered and loathed for over a century.”

Her eyes flick to the window again, where the first signs of the venue glitter in the distance—cameras, barriers, a sea of restless bodies waiting to devour beauty and scandal in equal measure.

“They’re getting worse,” she says, almost to herself. “More relentless. Less human. They don’t even blink anymore. They see someone who doesn’t age and think I’m the trick—not the truth.”

She leans back, resting her head against the seat. “You’ll walk beside me,” she says, softer now. “They’ll be watching. Don’t flinch. Don’t speak. Just stay close and look expensive.”

Her lips curve into a faint, dangerous smile.

“And if anyone tries to touch me…” Her voice trails off, but the meaning lingers in the air—sharp, cold, final. The car slows. The lights outside intensify. The world is waiting. And so is she.