Before dawn, Silas Norwood rose quietly.
"My dear, I'm heading out for a bit." His voice was gentle as he murmured his schedule in her ear. "I'm having morning tea with a few clients from Port Sovereign. You get some more sleep. I'll be back to have breakfast with you."
Celia Sterling mumbled an affirmation, half-asleep and likely not registering his words.
Several kilometers from Jade Orchid Manor, in a commercial district, the private room of an exquisitely decorated teahouse was filled with people.
It was only five in the morning. Metropia had seen a sharp drop in temperature recently, and a bone-chilling cold permeated the quiet, empty outdoors. Inside the private room, over a dozen guests from Port Sovereign exchanged uneasy glances, all of them on edge.
They hadn't arrived together.
