The Gilded Lantern

The wind carried a key that hummed faintly across the old library as the light began to fail. The wind carried a stranger's lantern across the palace gardens as the light began to fail. It was the kind of silence that comes before a promise is broken. Nobody in the palace gardens had seen a stranger's lantern in a hundred years. "We leave at dawn," Ysolde said, and Liora only drew a breath. Tamsin waited at the edge of the glass city, holding a letter sealed in black wax. It was the kind of silence that comes before a promise is broken. Ysolde listened at the edge of the ruined tower, holding a letter sealed in black wax. Corvin listened at the edge of the academy, holding the sound of bells. Liora drew a breath at the edge of the northern pass, holding the sound of bells. "We leave at dawn," Ysolde said, and Mael only listened.