Autumn’s steps were slow, measured, her heels clicking softly against the marble as she let go of Velor’s arm.
Each step towards the far corner of the room echoed against the silence that suddenly stretched too long, too cold, around her despite the chaos.
But Autumn could only see the little girl she used to sneak out with, smiling, giggling... her partner in crime. Her other half. A part of her heart and soul.
She had been sitting in the same posture since she had arrived there. Same tilt of the head. Same glass of untouched wine, trembling ever so slightly beneath her fingers but never meeting her lips.
She looked like a painting...one someone had tried to forget on purpose but left in the centre place.
Autumn’s breath caught in her throat.
Her sister.She was her blood even though she didn’t have the same father. She was family. She was hers.
The sister she loved so much...yet the sister she could not run to when she returned.
Because the truth wasn’t welcome.
And tonight, Autumn was someone else.Their lives had changed. Everything else had but the fact that she was still her sister... her little one.
She paused just a few feet away, forced the tightness in her chest down deep, then gently cleared her throat.
"Is this seat taken?" Autumn asked, her voice soft, pitched lower than her usual tone, hiding her own lilt.
Lyla blinked, just barely turning her head.
There was no recognition in her eyes. No flicker of any memory...nothing.Only exhaustion and wariness. Of course. That was expected.
Autumn slid into the seat beside her, smoothing the hem of her crimson dress.
"Thanks. I am so... tired of the party. All that circling and smiling. I needed air, and a real place to sit, not another man’s arm."
Lyla let out the faintest hum. Noncommittal.
She clearly wasn’t interested in the chit chat!
Autumn scanned the crowd for a waiter and raised two fingers. A young man approached moments later with a gleaming silver tray, glasses clinking in perfect rhythm.
Autumn reached for two and offered one to Lyla.
Lyla stared at it a moment, hesitating.
Autumn smiled gently, coaxing but not pushing.
"Just to hold. Feels better, oddly. Makes the room seem less fake."
Lyla took it, but her fingers curled around the stem like it was fragile...like trust.
Still, she did not drink.
Autumn did not either.Of course.She was pregnant.
The tension between them sat like a third person at the table.
And then... "Oh, Goddess save me from these bastards!"
She dropped into the empty seat across from them with dramatic flair, gown shimmering like spilled ink, cheeks already flushed. A glass was thrust into her hand before she even finished sighing.
"One more," she commanded, and the waiter, familiar with her rhythm by now, obeyed quickly.
She lifted her eyes, fixing them on Autumn, giving her a slow once over.Her mouth twisted in half a sneer, half a smirk.
"You are new.Which pack? "
Autumn nodded politely."Just a guest. No one important."
"Hmph. Pretty little nobody, then.Come from abroad? " Meira said, reaching for yet another drink."Careful. Men around here like them that way. Makes you easier to ruin."
Autumn said nothing, her eyes drifting behind Meira,toward the dance floor where things were starting to warm up!
And there was Alpha Varric.Grinding. Groping. Groaning.
A woman in each hand. A third tangled around his neck like a scarf. His shirt all undone, tie long discarded. He did not move like a man in celebration. He moved like a beast in heat, devouring whatever came near with no dignity, no shame.And he wasn’t alone. There were more tangled messes working at every corner. Alphas, Gammas, Betas...
Meira followed Autumn’s gaze and barked a laugh that sounded more like a sob strangled halfway.
"That one’s mine," she said, voice brittle. "Lucky me."
She drank again. Hard.
"Marry an Alpha, they said. It is power, they said. Security. Prestige. HA!" She slammed the glass down and waved to the waiter again.
She laughed, bitter as poison. "Look at him. Like a dog in heat." She poured yet another drink, her hand shaking. "Men are all the same, aren’t they?"
Autumn’s spine stiffened. " Maybe not all."
Meira arched a brow. "Oh? Found a saint, have you?"
"No." Autumn’s eyes darted to where Kieran had vanished towards the sitting area at the library."Just hoping for... exceptions.But it is hard. Being tied to someone like that."
Meira looked at her in surprise, startled by the note of... truth? " You sound like you know." Then she snorted. " Then you should know as well that exceptions die young." She turned to Lyla, her voice softening. "You understand, don’t you? That ache?"
Lyla’s breath hitched, just once.
Meira reached out, squeezing her shoulder. "I swear, I envy your silence. At least you don’t scream into pillows like I do."
Autumn blinked, caught off guard."No. I mean... I am not married."
"Then you have been close," Meira said, narrowing her eyes, "Or ruined by one."
Autumn did not reply.
Meira leaned in, her whisper slurred with wine. "Tell me...why aren’t you married? Pretty thing like you?Men must be throwing themselves at your feet! Are you waiting for your fated? " She burst out laughing. " You know it’s overrated in our world! "
Autumn forced a smile. "Never found one worth the chains...that’s all. "
"Smart girl." Meira raised her glass in mock toast. "To freedom, then."
Lyla finally moved...lifting her own glass an inch before setting it down, untouched...still silent, her hands fidgeting on her lap. Her face was still, but her jaw was tight.
Meira turned to face her completely, rubbing her shoulder in a sisterly gesture that felt both clumsy and sincere.
"I know exactly what you are going through, sweetheart. You are his wife, aren’t you?And yet...we all heard the rumors..."
Lyla flinched.Then nodded once.
Meira exhaled, her tone lowered like she was sharing a secret. .
"I can’t say it gets easier. But it does get familiar. That’s worse to be honest."
Miera downed her next drink, slower this time.
"The lies. The smell of someone else’s perfume. The lipstick on collars. The ’don’t overreact’ excuses."
Autumn swallowed hard.
She knew those feelings too well.
Meira’s voice turned brittle again."And yet we stay. Because we have built lives around them. Because leaving means war. Because someone will blame us for everything."
Lyla finally spoke...barely a whisper."I did not come for him...I did not stay for him."
Meira blinked." Huh? What do you mean? "
But Lyla did not answer.
Autumn stared at her sister’s profile...her heart aching.
A trumpet blared just then.And then came the announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen...the much anticipated Couple’s Dance begins now! Alpha Velor and his honored muse, take the floor!"