Arasorne came alive at night.
By the second evening, I had begun to recognize the rhythms of the coastal city—the constant crash of waves, merchants’ voices calling across the market until sundown, lanterns strung high above the winding streets glowing like captured stars. But when the sun sank behind the horizon, the city shed its daylight skin and revealed something entirely different.
Laughter poured from open doorways. Music thrummed through the air, thick with magic that shimmered faintly over the cobblestones. Fae of every shape and hue spilled into the streets—some with glowing hair braided with pearls, others whose skin seemed carved from polished coral, almost opalescent under the lantern light.
Fen had left me in the estate with nothing but the vague words—“I have something to
