"Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests one and all, the moment we have awaited the whole evening through has arrived at last. Raise your glasses high, for only now does the night find its true light. Please welcome the radiant jewel of our celebration, the Lady Astrid."
And the instant those words left the herald's lips, every stare in the hall snapped to Astrid, her beauty seizing each guest by the throat before they could so much as breathe.
Her cold and elegant descent and that distant and unbothered expression set countless man's hearts racing, until the cruel truth caught up with them all at once, that a woman like this stood a whole planet beyond their reach.
The room sank into utter silence as she descended, the quiet grown so complete that the sharp click of her heel meeting the marble below rang out like a verdict the very moment she abandoned the last stair.
