"You have no manners, Seraphina… coming this late to a family gathering."
The voice was sharp, aged, and carried the kind of authority that came from years of being obeyed rather than questioned.
Raya's steps faltered for half a second.
She recovered immediately.
Her lips curved into a polite smile, restrained and graceful, even as her heart skipped uneasily in her chest. The woman who had spoken sat upright at the table, her posture rigid, her gaze piercing. Her hair was silver mixed with black, styled impeccably, her face lined not with weakness but with control.
She looked ancient in status, not age.
Raya wasn't certain, but there was only one possibility.
Elias Blake's wife?.
The woman who stood closest to the patriarch himself.
Her name, which Raya might learn later but for now.
Let's just exhale and continue the show.
Adrian said nothing.
He didn't slow his steps. Didn't acknowledge the insult. Didn't even glance in Rosalind's direction.
