Avernon City was once again set ablaze with whispers. Electronic billboards along the main thoroughfares flickered to life, displaying the Devano dragon crest against a backdrop of shimmering gold. Alaric had decided to celebrate Lucifer's first birthday in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Alaric—a crystalline glass masterpiece that beat as the heart of the city's opulence.
"You're insane, Alaric," Anna whispered as she stared at the gown prepared for her—a masterpiece of white silk dusted with a constellation of micro-diamonds. "After all that lockdown, now you want to thrust Lucifer into the middle of a crowd?"
Alaric was adjusting his luxury timepiece. He crossed the room to her, coiling his arms around her waist from behind and fixing their reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror.
