[Silthara Palace — Malik's Office — Midnight — Later]
Midnight had swallowed Silthara whole.
The palace stood in silence beneath a moonless sky, its white towers drowned in darkness, silver banners barely stirring in the cold night wind. Lanterns burned along the outer walls, but none of their warmth reached the Malik's office.
Inside, only a few low lamps remained lit.
Their amber glow spilled across the heavy desk at the center of the chamber, where a pink diamond necklace lay atop black velvet like a captured heartbeat.
It was beautiful, too beautiful. The kind of beauty that made one instinctively suspicious.
The gem at its center held a strange inner sheen, pale rose at first glance, yet deeper within it something older seemed to pulse...like light trapped beneath blood.
Across from it, Arkhazunn unrolled an old scroll over the desk with careful hands.
