"Are you ready, Your Highness?" she called out, her voice crackling with adventure.
Cristiano couldn't speak.
He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time, not the noble lady bound to political expectations, but a storm in human form. Untamed. Daring. Alive.
Was this truly his wife?
Before he could gather a single coherent thought, she reached for his hand and tugged him forward, laughing softly when he stumbled after her. She pulled him to the other side of the estate where something strange and sleek gleamed beneath the frost-kissed trees.
It wasn't a creature. It was—
"A car," she said proudly, watching the awe dawning on his face. "She is my baby. You like it?"
It was midnight black, low to the ground, and smooth as obsidian. Its surface shimmered like a blade under moonlight, and Cristiano stared as she casually pressed a button on a small metal object in her hand. The vehicle let out a soft click, and the doors popped open like magic.
