The moon had sunk low over Duskmoor, veiled by a mist that turned the city into a place of ghosts. The crooked streets were empty of carts, the taverns long since shuttered, and not even the drunkards dared to sing tonight. Somewhere far off, a stray dog barked once and then fell silent, as if it too had remembered the warning whispered across the city—Don’t be outside after midnight.
Rian stood at the mouth of an old drainage tunnel in the western quarter, clutching a torch in one hand and the hilt of a dagger in the other. The thief had worked for smugglers, mercenaries, and even a few nobles in his time, but none of those jobs had chilled him like this one.
Kael’s voice still rang in his head:
> “Find what lies beneath the city before the Regent’s hounds do. If you fail…”
He didn
