The East Wing of the Obsidian Court was as bleak as a mausoleum.

Stripped of the ambient magic that warmed the rest of the palace, the stone walls radiated a damp, bone-deep chill. Kaelia sat on the edge of a stiff, narrow bed, her teeth chattering uncontrollably as she pulled a thin woolen shawl

The icy stone of the East Wing floor offered no comfort as Kaelia Vance lay curled on her side, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps.

The Aether-burn was no longer a creeping, insidious decay. Without the Sun-Tear Amulet shielding her womb, the disease had erupted into a roaring inferno. Dee

The freezing isolation of the East Wing was almost a relief after the suffocating heat of the Spire.

Kaelia sat on the edge of her narrow, uncomfortable bed, a small leather satchel open beside her. Her movements were slow, entirely mechanical. Every time she reached for an object—a spare woolen d