LOGINAlina — POV
( | Wedding Day | Power Convergence)
The dress was heavier than I expected.
Not in weight
in meaning.
White silk. Lightning-thread embroidery. Stormstone beads sewn into the bodice like frozen sparks. It wasn’t traditional. It wasn’t delicate. It wasn’t soft.
It was armor disguised as a gown.
I stood in front of the mirror while stylists moved around me in silence, fixing fabric, adjusting clasps, brushing my hair into controlled waves that fell down my back like dark fire. Every movement was precise. Professional. Reverent.
No music.
No chatter.
No wedding chaos.
This was not a celebration.
It was a convergence.
My phone buzzed.
Mother.
I lifted it.
“Mom.&rdqu
The grand doors of the venue swung open with the faintest creak, but the sound seemed louder than anything else in the hall. I sensed immediately the shift in energy. Everyone froze for the briefest moment—the Valecrests, the Thornbrooks, even the assistants and waitstaff standing silently along the walls. My eyes swept across the figure who had just entered. He was a man in his early fifties, wearing an expensive suit tailored to suggest authority, though his eyes betrayed calculation, greed, and a hunger for profit above all else.He didn’t know me. Of course, he didn’t. How could he? To him, I was simply an unexpected obstacle in the form of a young woman standing in the center of a hall that he assumed was already reserved for Kael and Seraphina.Kael, of course, recognized him immediately, and his smirk widened as he realized he could use the man’s ignorance to his advantage. “Ah,” Kael said, his voic
The hall had become a battlefield of whispers, scorn, and thinly veiled triumphs, and yet no matter how the Valecrests and Thornbrooks sharpened their words against me, no matter how they painted me as weak, undeserving, or pathetic, the foundation of my calm remained unshaken. Their voices, loud as they were, carried no true weight. They were nothing but noise.Kael’s presence had grown ominous, his expression a mixture of anger and disbelief, the way one looks at a puzzle piece that refuses to fit into the image they have spent years perfecting. He leaned slightly toward me, his jaw tight, and his voice carried across the hall in the way only he could command, sharp enough to make even Seraphina flinch.“You know,” Kael began, his tone low but audible to all around, “for my wedding, Lady Thunderstorm is coming. And I’m certain she wouldn’t want to see someone like… this… standing here.&rdqu
Seraphina was the first to recover from the shock, as she always was, smoothing her expression into something that looked like grace but felt like calculation, stepping closer to me as if we were still sisters bound by affection rather than history soaked in blood and betrayal. She lowered her voice deliberately, the way one did when pretending concern while sharpening a blade.“Alina,” she said softly, glancing around the vast hall as if embarrassed on my behalf, “why don’t you leave quietly before this becomes… ugly. Everyone here knows this hall is meant for us. There’s no possible way you could afford it, and I don’t want you humiliating yourself further.”Her words dripped with false kindness, the kind that assumed weakness as fact, and when I did not answer immediately, she took my silence as permission to press harder. She gestured subtly at the banners, the lighting, the expanse of mar
Alina — POV( | Wedding Day | Power Convergence)The dress was heavier than I expected.Not in weightin meaning.White silk. Lightning-thread embroidery. Stormstone beads sewn into the bodice like frozen sparks. It wasn’t traditional. It wasn’t delicate. It wasn’t soft.It was armor disguised as a gown.I stood in front of the mirror while stylists moved around me in silence, fixing fabric, adjusting clasps, brushing my hair into controlled waves that fell down my back like dark fire. Every movement was precise. Professional. Reverent.No music.No chatter.No wedding chaos.This was not a celebration.It was a convergence.My phone buzzed.Mother.I lifted it.“Mom.&rdqu
Seraphina was the first to recover from the shock, as she always was, smoothing her expression into something that looked like grace but felt like calculation, stepping closer to me as if we were still sisters bound by affection rather than history soaked in blood and betrayal. She lowered her voice deliberately, the way one did when pretending concern while sharpening a blade.“Alina,” she said softly, glancing around the vast hall as if embarrassed on my behalf, “why don’t you leave quietly before this becomes… ugly. Everyone here knows this hall is meant for us. There’s no possible way you could afford it, and I don’t want you humiliating yourself further.”Her words dripped with false kindness, the kind that assumed weakness as fact, and when I did not answer immediately, she took my silence as permission to press harder. She gestured subtly at the banners, the lighting, the expanse of marble beneath our feet, and the storm sigils glowing faintly above us, as though the venue itse
Seraphina was the first to recover from the shock, as she always was, smoothing her expression into something that looked like grace but felt like calculation, stepping closer to me as if we were still sisters bound by affection rather than history soaked in blood and betrayal. She lowered her voice deliberately, the way one did when pretending concern while sharpening a blade.“Alina,” she said softly, glancing around the vast hall as if embarrassed on my behalf, “why don’t you leave quietly before this becomes… ugly. Everyone here knows this hall is meant for us. There’s no possible way you could afford it, and I don’t want you humiliating yourself further.”Her words dripped with false kindness, the kind that assumed weakness as fact, and when I did not answer immediately, she took my silence as permission to press harder. She gestured subtly at the banners, the lighting, the expanse of marble beneath our feet, and the storm sigils glowing faintly above us, as though the venue itse







