*** Days Later

The sun had already begun its slow descent beyond the capital’s western spires, painting the sky in shades of amber and rose, when the first carriages began to arrive at the imperial palace.

They came in a steady stream, a river of polished wood and gleaming metal, their wheels turning in a rhythm that had been rehearsed for centuries. Each one bore the crest of a noble house, some ancient, some newly risen, all of them eager to claim their place at the emperor’s celebration.

A carriage of deep emerald green, pulled by four grey horses whose manes had been braided with silver thread. The Ashworth crest glittered on its door, a tower wrapped in thorns, and the crowd that had gathered behind the palace gates murmured as it passed.

"The Ashworths haven’t attended a ball in years."

"Wasn’t their daughter disgraced?"

"Quiet. They can hear you."

The carriage rolled on, and another took its place. This one was sleeker, darker, its horses replaced by something that hummed with contained magic. The first automobile of the evening, its black surface reflecting the torches that lined the drive.

"The Brights," someone said. "They’ve been investing in those new machines."

"Tacky."

"Practical."

The crowd’s attention shifted as a shadow passed overhead. An airship, smaller than the military vessels that patrolled the border, its hull painted in the silver and blue of House Valemont. It drifted toward the palace’s private landing platform, silent and graceful, and the crowd gasped.

"An airship. For a ball."

"The Valemonts have always been showoffs."

Lillian would have hated that description. But she wasn’t there to hear it.

The carriages continued to arrive, each one more elaborate than the last, each noble more eager to outshine their rivals.

Velvet and silk spilled from open doors. Jewels caught the fading light and scattered it like broken stars.

By the time the sun had fully set, the palace drive was crowded with vehicles of every kind, their passengers already inside, already dancing, already pretending that this night was just like any other.

But the most anticipated arrivals had not yet come.

The crowd knew it. The servants knew it. Even the guards at the gate, standing stiff in their dress uniforms, kept glancing toward the road that led to the city.

"She’ll be here soon," one of them murmured.

"The D’Arclight girl?"

"The D’Arclight woman. And her... companion."

The other guard snorted. "Companion. That’s one word for him."

"Hush. They can hear everything."

The road stretched empty for a long moment. Then, in the distance, lights appeared. Not torches, not lamps, something colder, something brighter.

Headlights.

Two of them, cutting through the darkness like eyes.

The automobile that emerged from the shadows was unlike any that had come before. Longer, lower, its body painted in a shade of white that seemed to glow even without sunlight. No crest marked its doors. No family colors announced its allegiance.

It didn’t need to.

Everyone knew who it belonged to.

The crowd fell silent as the automobile glided up the drive, its engine a low purr that barely disturbed the evening air. It stopped before the palace steps, and the door opened.

A footman in D’Arclight colors, deep crimson and white, stepped forward and offered his hand.

The woman who emerged was dressed in ivory silk, her white hair loose and flowing, her face a mask of perfect composure. She wore no crown, no tiara, nothing to mark her as anything other than what she was.

Evelina D’Arclight.

The most dangerous woman in the empire.

She did not look at the crowd. She did not acknowledge the guards, the servants, the other nobles who had paused in their ascent to stare.

And on the other side of the vehicle emerged none other than her father, Vredemann D’Arclight. The Jester. The legendary Duke of Murder who had somehow resisted arrest for years.

The D’Arclights: a family uniquely adept at hiding proof, allowing them to operate freely throughout the empire without fear of the emperor’s reach.

"Did your companion not arrive yet, Evelina?"

"Cael? Don’t worry, he’ll arrive eventually."

[Darkfire Step]

[Dark Step]

"Speak of the devil," Vredemann smirked.

Two dark humanoid figures manifested nearby, the only two nobles who didn’t even bother with a vehicle. The Ardens, more specifically, Cael Arden and Vance Arden.

***

"Cael, I thought I told you to bring a vehicle." Evelina pouted, crossing her arms in a rare display of petulance.

"I’m sorry. My father insisted on teleportation."

Vance turned to Vredemann. "Vredemann, we should leave our children to mingle among themselves. We have so much to talk about, don’t we?"

"Fine." Vredemann nodded. "Evelina, don’t get into too much trouble."

Evelina didn’t bother replying. She simply hooked her arm through mine and turned toward the archway that led into the imperial ballroom.

Even from outside, they were already drawing attention. Guests who had been lingering near the entrance froze mid-conversation, their gazes fixed on the two of us.

"The Ardens and the D’Arclights..."

"To think those rumors were true."

"Terrifying..."

The imperial ballroom could have been a study in calculated excess.

Chandeliers of crystal and light drifted beneath the vaulted ceiling, their glow shifting from gold to silver. The floor beneath my boots was polished marble, white and grey veined with threads of actual gold.

Pillars lined the walls, each one carved with scenes from the empire’s history, each one wrapped in garlands of fresh flowers that would be replaced before they could wilt.

And everywhere, everywhere, people.

Nobles in their finest, their jewels catching the light, their conversations a low hum beneath the string quartet’s music. Servants wove between them, trays balanced on gloved hands, offering champagne and canapés to anyone who looked thirsty enough to pause.

When Evelina and I stepped through the archway, that hum faltered.

A collective intake of breath, a shifting of bodies, a dozen conversations restarting at once with new subjects and new suspicions.

"Is that—"

"Lady D’Arclight." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"And the academy’s prodigy."

"I heard—"

"Quiet."

Evelina’s expression didn’t change. She kept her arm linked through mine, her chin raised, her crimson eyes moving across the room with the slow deliberation of someone cataloging threats.

I matched her pace, my own gaze less overt but no less alert. The shadows at my feet were barely visible in the shifting light, but they were there.

Always there.

The Imperial Ball had now begun.