Persephone looked as though she was missing a limb among the crowd. Even with Katherine, Grace and Allegra by her side, her sense of incompleteness remained evident.
Or so was Lauden's first impression upon laying eyes on her. To him, it made a lot of sense that, especially, Arabella would skip the party considering the roof under which it was held. The girl might have been naive to a fault, but her husband and mother-in-law were anything but that.
"Oh, my dear Lord! Persephone! I can't believe it's been months since I've last seen you!" Lady Anastasia, who fully dressed in red smeared with tinges of gold here and there, approached Persephone with the bubbliest of beams.
"There, there, girl! You look radiant!" the vampiress' hand cupped the new mother's cheek, "The Novamater suits you very well as I told you it would,"
Lady Anastasia giggled, took a pinch of the skirt that completed her gown and made a twirl in it.
