Lorelei

The ballroom was a sea of silk and candlelight, a glittering expanse of wealth and power that stretched out before me like a living thing. I stood at the entrance, my hand resting lightly on the railing, my eyes sweeping across the crowd of nobles and dignitaries who had gathered for the first event I had organized entirely on my own.

The New Dawn ceremony had concluded, the treaties signed, the peace declared. And now, tradition demanded a celebration—a ball that would unite the ...