Chapter 29 The Fire Between Them

• The Volkova estate glowed beneath a sky brushed with dusk and stars, its iron gates thrown open for the first time not in defense—but in celebration.
• Candlelight lined the stone paths, flames trembling in the evening breeze like breath held too long. Inside the gardens, white roses and deep red blooms tangled together in deliberate contrast. Silk ribbons fluttered from archways. Music—soft, stringed, intimate—drifted through the air, wrapping every guest in something almost sacred.
• Milady stood at the edge of it all, her pulse steady, her spine straight, her heart anything but calm.