Chapter 406: The Gathering of Shadows
The building was abandoned.
Its windows were boarded, its walls crumbling in places, and the only light came from a single flickering lantern set upon a crate at the centre of the room. Dust motes drifted in the dim glow, disturbed by the movement of cloaked figures who stood in the shadows with their faces concealed behind masks.
The room had once belonged to someone of standing.
There were still traces of it beneath the neglect. The remnants of expensive wallpaper peeling at the corners, the carved edge of a mantelpiece half-buried beneath dust and disuse, a chandelier hanging crookedly from the ceiling as though it had simply given up the effort of remaining straight. Time and abandonment had reduced the place to little more than a shell of what it had been.
It was, however, precisely the sort of place in which secrets could be kept without difficulty.
No one spoke.
