She didn't ask who they were. She didn't have to.
Lilith just held out her hand, calm and deliberate.
The courier stepped forward, placed the sealed case in her palm, and walked away without a word.
No noise, no glance backward, no hesitation. The doors behind them closed quietly, like they'd never been there to begin with.
Lilith didn't watch them leave. She simply turned, her fingers tightening slightly around the handle of the case, and began walking deeper into the sanctuary.
Her steps were steady—not slow, not fast. Just sure. There were no guards with her. No shadows lurking along the path. She didn't need them.
She moved beneath the archway into the inner sanctum, and the air changed.
The room was nearly silent, lit by a single blue flame burning low in a wide, shallow bowl that rested on a silver pedestal in the center of the chamber.
The light wasn't bright, but it was enough. The shadows were soft, the edges of the room blurry.
