|| Lilac's POV ||

The rest of the ride home was the kind of quiet that presses against your eardrums. The sort where nobody wants to be the first to speak because then we'd have to admit how badly tonight went. I pressed my forehead against the cool window, watching streetlights blur past like fading stars.

Kael's fake sincerity. Cassandra's razor-sharp smiles. And now the Nightshades playing fairy godmother? My fingers twisted in my dress fabric. None of this made ...