open: m/f/nb plot: bridgerton-inspired regency
Her first ball of the season, and already her patience was wearing thin. The music swelled, the laughter chimed, and the room glittered with silks and jewels and carefully curated interest. She knew what she was meant to be doing. Smiling. Watching. Waiting to be noticed. Instead, she stood just off to the side, gaze lifted to the vaulted ceiling, tracing the way the chandeliers scattered light across painted plaster and polished marble. The room itself was beautiful. Impeccably so. Safer, somehow, than the people inside it.









