A knock sounded at the infirmary door before either could answer.
Cassian entered after a brief pause, which meant he had heard enough to know better than barging in and not enough to stay away. His gaze moved over Silas, Sera, then Valerius.
“Court summons,” he said.
Valerius’s expression cooled. “From whom?”
Cassian held out a black envelope sealed in red wax.
House Morcant.
Sera looked at the seal and thought of Isolde’s ring in the dream, the red stone shining through smoke. Her stomach tightened with the same slow dread she felt when a dream began to change.
Valerius broke the seal.
He read the letter once.
Only once.
Then he handed it to Sera.
That was new too. Not hiding. Not translating. Not deciding what she could bear.
Sera took it carefully.
The message was brief, e
