Shadow in the Dark

The air in the palace had shifted. A presence lingered at the edges of the halls, unseen yet undeniable. Seraphine felt it with every step she took, a weight pressing against her senses, warning her that something—or someone—was watching.

She moved cautiously through the corridors, her mind occupied by the secrets she had uncovered. The lost heir remained hidden, their existence a threat to the throne itself. Every decision Seraphine made now had to be calculated, every move precise.

But she was not the only one playing a dangerous game.

A new force had entered the fray.

Kaelith was too occupied with his own battles to notice the shift in the air, but Seraphine had spent too much of her life in the shadows not to recognize when she was being hunted. It wasn't paranoia. It wasn't a trick of the mind.

Someone was here.

And they wanted something from her.

Late in the evening, as she walked toward the eastern wing of the palace, she felt it again—the unmistakable feeling of being followed. Her