#Chapter 37 – Nightengale

Lila The piano was already warm beneath Emma’s fingers when I stepped up beside her. My dress still smelled faintly of red wine as I folded and draped Asher’s jacket over a nearby chair, just out of reach. The ballroom hadn’t quieted – yet – but I could feel it starting. A ripple of confusion whispering through the crowd as people began to notice who was at the piano. It wasn’t one of the candidates from Jackson’s handpicked list. It was just fallen-from-favor-Elena. I could feel Vanessa frothing at the mouth for me to make another misstep. “What are you doing?” one of the women whispered behind me, as though saying my name too loud would shatter some kind of peace. Emma looked up at me from the bench, her expression soft but steady. “You ready?” she mouthed, barely audible. “No,” I whispered back. “But start anyway.” She nodded, exhaled slowly, and placed her hands on the keys. Then, without fanfare, she began to play. The first notes of the song drifted out like