#21: Her Final Chance to Bond With Cecelia
Because the Carringtons kept old traditions, Leon and Freya slept apart the night before the ceremony, a custom that felt like distance rather than romance. He took a guest room at a cousin’s house near town. She remained at the lake, which meant an evening under Cecelia’s scrutiny.
The prospect unsettled her more than silence ever could, since every sentence seemed to turn wrong once it left her lips. Still, she decided to try again, to listen, to learn what fear hid behind elegance. She did not know the night would peel back history and reveal truths that reangled everything.