Her gaze drifted to a plain brocade box resting upon the table.
It had belonged to her mother.
Since entering the Valehart estate, she had kept it always at hand, placing it upon her dressing table so she might look upon it each day, as though it carried with it a fragment of her former life.
The box was modest in size. Within lay only a carved hairpin and a folded handkerchief—simple keepsakes, long familiar to her.
Yet today, something seemed… different.
Frowning slightly, Caelith removed the contents and examined the interior more closely. There—beneath the lining—was a faint indentation she had never before noticed.
Curiosity stirred.
She pressed firmly upon it.
With a soft click, a hidden compartment sprang open—and from within, something slipped free, falling gently behind the box.
Startled, she bent swiftly to retrieve it.
In her hand lay a beautiful pendant.
