Cardinal Austin lifted his eyes as the Black Dragon lowered its massive head, the missive clenched delicately between fangs. With measured reverence, Austin received the letter.
He unfolded the parchment, eyes sweeping rapidly over the script traced in enchanted ink. The moment he recognized the author, his pupils shrank sharply, like a night-hawk caught off guard by sudden flame.
The letter—astonishingly—was from Sacco.
Sacco, whom Austin had always dismissed as little more than a pawn on the chessboard of the Theocracy. A name he had scarcely bothered to remember. Yet now that very name loomed high above, a constellation in the heavens, forcing even him to raise his gaze.
To command the Black Dragon itself—an emissary of Ordon Theocracy's will—to cross borders and deliver a single letter… This was no ordinary correspondence. This was a proclamation, an assertion of supremacy, a silent act of domination.
