The invitation arrived on a silver tray.
Sera stared at it for a long time before she touched it, not because she was surprised, but because Valerius had always enjoyed ceremony when ceremony could be used as a weapon. A note delivered by a servant meant distance. Distance meant restraint. Restraint meant that he wanted her to notice he was not forcing his way into her room.
That made the invitation more dangerous, not less.
She stood beside the desk with the dagger in her hand and watched the folded card as though it might open its own mouth and bite. The servant waited near the door, pale and silent. Sera glanced at her, then toward the hall beyond. Two guards stood at the far end of it, one near the staircase and another shadow near the opposite corridor, pretending not to be a perso
