VAELDRIC POV
Clink...
Clink...
Clink...
I never realized the sound of crystal glasses clinking together could be this loud. Or perhaps, I used to be too busy exchanging polite conversations to notice it.
There was always someone eager to call me over.
"Lord Ashbourne..."
"Come, join us."
Those voices used to overlap from every direction. Today, all I could hear was the echo of crystal meeting crystal.
I stepped into St. Roland Gentlemen's Club, my eyes scanning the room for the man I'd been looking for. This was where Valerion's dukes, marquesses, and industrialists usually spent their afternoons.
More business alliances had been born here than in boardrooms—often without a single written contract. Trust alone had always been enough.
I walked straight toward the bar, though I w
