CHAPTER 21 : ANCIENT ECHOES AND MYSTIC BREATHS
PART I : THE DUST OF KNOWLEDGE
The Quartz Palace no longer vibrated solely with Hakon’s fury, but with a silent urgency that had taken hold of Anastasia. The princess, whose mind was as sharp as a blade of frost, had rushed toward the royal archives. It was a subterranean labyrinth where centuries seemed to have petrified into layers of paper and parchment.
Accompanied by Anatoli, the old archivist whose hunched back seemed to carry the weight of every written word, she ventured into the dustiest corners of the distant archives. The scent there was singular: a mixture of old leather, candle wax, and that earthy aroma peculiar to manuscripts that haven’t seen the light for eons.
— “Anatoli, we need the texts on the convergence of flames and
