We left for the Kagu estate at first light. It sat halfway across the Eastern Continent, days away by ordinary transport, but the warp network between the great houses made it minutes.
"Ready?" Seraphina asked, as we stood on Mount Hua's transport platform in the grey before sunrise. She'd slept perhaps two hours. So had I. Neither of us looked it, which I put down to the waterfall.
"As ready as you can be for walking into what might be a trap," I said, checking my gear one last time. Something under my ribs had been tight since Mo's study, and it hadn't loosened overnight.
The gate woke with its familiar surge of spatial mana. Space folded around us, held for a heartbeat, and let go. We stepped out onto a platform ringed by gardens so carefully kept they looked painted.
