The carriage ride to the Harren estate was silent. It wasn't a comfortable silence, but a heavy, tense one, filled with the unspoken weight of the night to come. Darius sat opposite me, a shadow in the dim light, his face unreadable. He hadn't spoken a word since we'd left the castle, and neither had I. There was nothing left to say. The instructions had been given, the expectations set. This was my stage to walk, my battle to fight.
I was dressed in the midnight blue velvet, the silver constellation of the Valecrest crest a cool, familiar weight on my collar. The fabric felt like a second skin, a piece of armor I had earned. I stared out the window, watching the dark, frozen landscape rush by, my mind a quiet, focused hum. I wasn't nervous anymore. I was... observant. I was seeing the world not as a participant, but as a strategist, looking for patterns, for weaknesses, for opportunities.
