Moments later,

Aria

The silence in the parlor didn't break; it transformed. The air, once thick with the scent of expensive lilies and desperation, now hummed with the electric charge of a live wire.

Jade, Muna, and Selene were staring at me, their faces pale but their eyes burning with a fire that hadn't been there ten minutes ago.

They were scared - I could see the tremor in Selene’s hands - but for the first time in their lives, they weren't scared of a man. They were scared of the sheer, breathtaking scale of the treason I was suggesting.

"Aria," Jade whispered, her voice finally steady. "If we do...