The first knock came before the burning sky above Crown City had even brightened.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
The second came a few minutes later.
By midday, Simon had stopped counting.
Messengers arrived one after another. Some came from houses on the residential terraces, others from the grand estates on the skull, and a few from places Simon had never even heard of. Each of them bowed at the gate, each of them spoke the same words, and each of them carried something.
"For the Sixth Disciple of the Abyss Sovereign."
Chests sealed with the crests of houses. Crates of wine. Jade boxes of herbs. A bolt of cloth that shimmered between black and violet when it moved. A beast core the size of a head. A cage holding a sleeping bird with silver feathers.
The sitting room filled first.
Then the courtyard.
At first, Sonya had insisted on answering the gate herself.
"This Honourable is little kitty's elder sister," she had declared that morning. "Elder sisters greet the guests."
