"It's alright."
That was all and everything, Cassiopeia looked at him a moment longer, something in her shoulders setting down a piece of invisible luggage it had been shouldering since yesterday, and then she went, on her own feet, by her own choice to join his other women where they gathered near the entrance.
Maddie absorbed her into the group mid-sentence without breaking stride, which was, by Maddie's standards, a coronation.
That left Lydia and Catrina.
Lydia looked at the two of them at the way they were looking at each other.
She performed the rapid social calculus; she knew exactly which conversations she was not required for and found her solace in the company of literally anyone else, and walked off toward the gardens with the unhurried dignity, choosing a different ballroom letting her friend have her moment with Phei.
She'll get her own when the time came.
Phei turned to Catrina.
