The guest wing of the Thorne estate had always been an afterthought, a drafty corridor of rooms rarely used and sparsely furnished. To Elara Vance, its sterile emptiness was a comfort. There were no lingering scents of Kaelen’s cedarwood cologne here. There were no shared memories pressed into the f

The lower tiers of the city smelled of sea salt, burning coal, and old magic. It was a stark contrast to the perfumed, pristine air of the Mage Lord’s estate, but Elara welcomed the grit. Here, among the shadowed alleys and leaning brick buildings, no one cared about the drama of the High Council or

The guest wing of the Mage Lord’s estate was quiet, stripped of the ambient magical hum that permeated the master suite. For Elara Vance, the silence was a small mercy. The Void Elixir had begun its true work, and the symptoms were no longer confined to the occasional cough of blackened blood.

Sit