The last stars of the night hadn't yet faded when the world began to shift under the weight of a single message. From Raven's Nest, word traveled faster than any storm. The Aurelian Dominion and Umbral Synod envoys wasted no time. By dawn, encrypted missives streaked through magical veins like arrowheads toward their respective capitals, sizzling with the heat of urgency. But they were not the only ones to act.
Somewhere between dread, guilt, and embarrassment, Valyne counted down the seconds until daylight with the solemnity of a woman awaiting execution. Sleep had abandoned her long before the moon's descent. The echoes of her own voice, loud and unfiltered, announcing Corvin's ascension to Planarch rank in front of a high elven envoy, repeated in her mind like a looped punishment spell. Even Kaelyn, sweet and hopelessly tactless Kaelyn, had sent her own dispatch to Goldhaven after the dinner. Valyne could only pray to the Dark Mother that she had used proper discretion.
