Night settled over Nacrifa slowly, like a dark curtain being drawn across the sky.
The city did not sleep easily. Lanterns burned along the streets, casting warm pools of light across cobblestone paths where merchants closed their shops and taverns filled with the low hum of conversation. Carriages rolled past the market square, and the distant bells of the palace clock tower rang softly through the night air.
From the highest hill overlooking the city, the royal palace stood like a crown of marble and silver against the moonlit sky.
It was a place of power.
Of history.
Of secrets buried deeper than the kingdom itself.
And tonight, someone new was watching it.
He stood at the edge of a narrow rooftop, boots balanced easily on the curved tiles as if gravity itself had forgotten how to pull him down. The wind tugged lazily at the dark coat draped across his shoulders, lifting strands of his black hair as he gazed out across the city.
