When Vanguard appeared beneath us, it felt like we'd entered another world, one made entirely of glass towers, razor-sharp architectural lines, and light reflecting off steel and black stone. The car waiting for us on the private tarmac was pitch-black and completely silent. There were no flashy insignias or unnecessary displays of wealth, which was exactly Xavier's style: controlled, discreet, and deliberately mysterious.I could feel the difference the moment we entered the heart of the city.In Wintersaint, people looked at my collar with the polite, carefully trained expressions that came from years of palace etiquette. Here, their gazes were considerably sharper, and there was something almost hungry about the way they looked at me. The people on the streets might not have known the collar's entire history, but they were perceptive enough to notice the dark metal and the red stone around my throat, then shift their eyes toward Xavier and linger t
Last Updated : 2026-09-21 Read more