CHAPTER 5: THE SEAL OF THE SUN
THALYS
The frost on the quartz windows traced landscapes of claws and feathers, a crystal forest that seemed intent on imprisoning the room in an eternal winter. But inside, the air was burning.
Dawn crawled over the peaks of the Blue Glacier, tinting the quartz walls with an almost surreal salmon-colored glow. My chamber, a vast rotunda carved directly into the quartz, echoed with the heavy silence of the night. The walls were not smooth; they were marbled with deep blue veins, like frozen arteries irrigating the heart of the mountain. For me, time had stopped the moment Elowen closed her golden eyes, sinking into a sleep finally soothed by Sacha’s remedy.
Ivan, my leopard, was pacing in a cage within my mind. He was no longer just a beast of war; he had
