|| Lilac’s POV ||

[Four Months Later]

The grand hall of the Nightshade palace shimmered with golden candlelight, the scent of roasted venison and honeyed apples thick in the air. Aurora squirmed in my arms, her chubby fingers reaching for the towering cake decorated with edible silver wolves. It was her first birthday.

"No, little wolf," Alaric chuckled, catching her wrist before she could demolish the masterpiece. "Let your poor father have one unruined ...