The court of shadows lived for spectacle. Alina had seen glimpses of it before: jeweled courtiers whose gowns seemed spun from smoke, nobles who whispered spells into their wine, masks carved from bone or crystal that glowed faintly with enchantments. But the masquerade was something else entirely. The obsidian hall glittered with floating lanterns that pulsed like living hearts, casting blood-red and violet light across a sea of masked faces. Music—haunting and slow, driven by strings and pipes that sounded more like sighs than notes—wound through the crowd. Every movement, every smile, felt like a performance sharpened into a weapon. And she was the centerpiece. Kael had made sure of that.
Her gown clung to her like liquid night, shimmering with a subtle silver pattern that seemed to mo
