"What are you saying?" Darius asked, his voice tight as he steadied himself against the panic rising in his chest. "How could Luna be gone? Surely she has merely stepped out for a while?"
The servant's voice trembled, close to tears. "All her things are cleared away. Her luggage… it is gone entirely. And Sir… there's something left on the desk."
Darius stood abruptly, fear flashing in his eyes. "What thing?"
"Come home and see for yourself." The servant dared not speak it aloud.
Darius didn't delay. His face drained of color; he snatched his coat and drove home at once, calling me again and again all the way there.
By the time his calls began, I had already reached the Northern Territories and settled into my new home. He rang more than a dozen times in succession. I di
