The winter night lay heavy over Typhon's manor, the wind whispering through the tall bare trees that lined the courtyard. Snow gathered quietly on the stone paths and rooftops, turning everything pale and silent.
Inside the manor, most of the servants had retired early. Lord Typhon had left hours ago for the royal palace, and the house had fallen into a strange, hollow quiet.
But Sapphire was awake.
She was not supposed to be wandering the halls. She had been told to rest, again and again, but stubbornness had always been stronger than good sense.
Wrapping a wool shawl tighter around her shoulders, she stepped quietly through a side corridor and out toward the courtyard.
The cold bit her skin immediately.
"Just a little air," she muttered to herself.
She had been restless ever since earlier that evening, when she overheard Lord Typhon and Eugene speaking in low voices about some important political gathering at the palace. A secret one.
She hadn't meant to listen.
But once politics were mentioned, curiosity had done the rest.
Sapphire stepped further into the courtyard.
That was when she heard it.
Voices.
Low.
Urgent.
She froze.
Near the shadowed archway that led to the outer road, several dark figures stood around someone struggling.
Her heart dropped.
Eugene.
The old butler was being held by two cloaked men while another drew strange symbols in the air. The faint shimmer of portal magic flickered like broken glass in the cold night.
Sapphire ducked behind a pillar, her breath catching.
Magic.
Kidnappers.
This was bad.
Very bad.
Eugene struggled once, but he was outnumbered. The men tightened their grip.
"Move," one of them muttered.
But then—
Eugene's eyes lifted.
And met hers.
For a moment Sapphire thought she had imagined it.
But Eugene was not looking around randomly.
He was looking directly at her hiding place.
Half vampire though he was, his senses were sharper than most. Even through the cold wind and the distance, he had clearly smelled her presence.
His expression didn't change.
But something passed in his gaze.
A message.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Warning.
Then his eyes shifted briefly, toward the distant direction of the royal palace.
Sapphire understood immediately.
Her stomach twisted.
He wanted her to tell Typhon.
Before she could even think, the mage finished the spell.
The portal snapped open behind them like a tear in the night itself.
One of the men shoved Eugene forward.
In the brief second before he vanished into the swirling darkness, Eugene looked at Sapphire one last time.
Then,
They were gone.
The portal closed with a soft crack.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
Snow continued falling as if nothing had happened.
Sapphire slowly stepped out from behind the pillar, her heart hammering.
Her mind raced.
The royal palace.
The secret ball.
She wasn't supposed to go anywhere near that place tonight.
If the guards caught a commoner wandering into a gathering meant only for nobles…
They might kill her before asking questions.
But Eugene had looked straight at her.
Trusted her.
And he had taken care of her when she was weak and recovering.
Sapphire clenched her fists.
"Fine," she muttered to the cold night.
Then she turned toward the road that led to the palace.
"If they kill me for this, Eugene," she grumbled, pulling her shawl tighter as she started walking into the snow,
"I swear I'm haunting you."
***
Typhon moved through the hall as the music played softly around him.
The nobles bowed when he passed, but their smiles were thin. Too thin.
He stopped before one of the visiting lords, offering a polite greeting.
"My lord. Hivites welcomes you."
The man bowed quickly.
"Of course. Always an honor."
Yet the words felt empty.
Typhon's sharp eyes did not miss the small things. The man's fingers tapped against his goblet. His shoulders were stiff. His heartbeat, quick, uneven.
Fear.
Or guilt.
Typhon moved on.
Another lord.
Another polite greeting.
Another forced smile.
This one would not hold Typhon's gaze for long. His eyes kept drifting toward the doors as if he wished to leave.
Typhon's jaw tightened slightly.
Strange.
He approached a third noble.
The same.
A bow too quick. A smile too careful. A voice too rehearsed.
Typhon paused near one of the tall pillars, watching the room.
Across the hall, King Isis sat upon his raised seat, Anne perched boldly on his lap, the court whispering at the scandal of it.
The king was distracted.
Typhon's gaze returned to the nobles moving about the hall.
Their whispers.
Their stiff laughter.
Their restless hands.
His ears caught the rhythm of their hearts.
Too fast.
Too nervous.
Then the thought struck him.
Not fear of the king.
Fear of being discovered.
Typhon slowly exhaled.
A quiet, bitter understanding settling in his chest.
Hivites had no one.
The alliances were gone!!!