DANICA and her girls stormed out of the BFP hall without a backward glance, her fury radiating so strongly that even those turning heads and staring at them dared not mutter a word. Normally, Danica would have smirked, flipped her hair, and basked in the attention she craved. But not now, not this moment. Now, all that mattered was the image burned into her mind— Ayel, laughing with Xaniyah.

They walked straight toward Aurelia’s Garden, a lush garden named after one of the first women of ...