Seraphina promised softly, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "I was just looking at the moon. I'm not going anywhere."
Kaelus held her, oblivious to the ancient ghost of her past that had just visited the balcony, completely focused on the only thing that mattered to his future.
The cool, fragrant night breeze of the Imperial Gardens swept across the deserted marble balcony, rustling the heavy silk curtains that Duke Kaelus von Nacht had violently torn from their brass rods mere moments ago.
The air was entirely silent, save for the distant, muffled strains of orchestral music drifting up from the grand ballroom below.
To the untrained eye, the balcony was completely empty.
But the physical realm is merely a canvas, and true masters of the arcane know how to paint themselves out of the picture.
A faint, almost imperceptible ripple distorted the moonlight near the grand stone pillar. It looked like a heat mirage shimmering over a summer road.
