SERAPHINA’S POV
You’d think by now I would be used to surprise parties, but for half a second, my brain simply…stalled.
The shout hit first—loud, chaotic, layered with laughter—then the glare of light, then the sudden, overwhelming presence of people.
Familiar voices collided around me, overlapping and calling my name, filling the house I’d just imagined as hollow and resentful.
I stood frozen in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, my heart slamming so hard it hurt.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed.
Maya was the first one I actually saw—of course she was. She stood dead center of the living room like a general surveying her victorious battlefield, arms flung wide, grin feral and unapologetic.
“Welcome home!” she hollered.
I laughed—and then promptly burst into tears.
It was mortifying and utterly unstoppable. One second, I was blinking furiously, the next, my vision blurred, my chest folding in as the weight of everything finally landed.
