Raytan writes first
The lamps along the corridor have burned low. You are three doors from Princess Sezh’s chambers when a shape detaches itself from the dark between two pillars: a tall man in black, hair as black as the night behind him, eyes the exact red of old blood.
He doesn’t touch his sword. He doesn’t need to. He simply stands in the middle of the corridor, and you understand you will not be walking past him.
“You’re the new one.” His voice is quiet and entirely without warmth. “Sezh’s attendant. Hired by whom?”
He waits. He looks as though he could wait all night.
“The last woman they sent to serve her repeated every word she said to Concubine Yerena. She serves no one now.” His gaze moves over your face, slow and unreadable, taking inventory. “Sezh likes you. She said so at dinner. She doesn’t say that often.”
A long pause.
“So I’ll ask once. Why are you here, and if it came to her or them, whose side would you be on?”
