TEETH BEHIND SMILES
The Arrival at the Banquet
The Grand Hall, lit with a thousand enchanted sconces, shimmered in amber light. Ceres entered, flanked by her handmaid Lana, her gown of midnight silk dragging shadows behind her like smoke.
Lana: (whispering as they approached the grand table) “Every eye is on you tonight, Princess. Smile, but only enough to keep them curious.”
Ceres: (murmuring) “Curious is safer than envious.”
The courtiers around them bowed, murmuring greetings laced with suspicion and honeyed venom. Ceres’s gaze swept over them, lingering on the southerners—elegant, darker-clad, with the quiet menace of sun-bred vipers.
At the high table, Prince Aldren rose, silver-eyed and sinfully poised. He raised a goblet in Ceres’s honor.
Prince Aldren: “To the daughter of Fresh Meadows. May your reign outlast legends... and your secrets remain forever your own.”
A murmur rippled through the room like distant thunder.
Ceres: (coolly) “I drink to sincerity, Prince. It's such a r
