Cassandra Beaumont stood before her ornate full-length mirror, methodically removing the trappings of nobility. Off came the expensive necklaces, the glittering rings, the weighty bracelets - each piece a symbol of her status and responsibility. As she placed them in their velvet-lined boxes, her mind wandered.
'I should be reviewing those contracts,' she thought, remembering the stack of documents her uncle had signed. 'I should be solidifying our alliances, securing our interests.'
But her heart wasn't in it. For once, the machinations of Drakorian high society held no appeal. Her thoughts, unbidden, turned to Zafron.
'Zafron,' she mused, a small smile playing on her lips. 'Where are you now?'
She recalled the promise she'd made at Lord Vex's mansion, what felt like a lifetime ago. "I'll find you in Lumina," she'd said as he boarded her cart, fleeing the suffocating confines of Drakoria.