The warded room served as a commission office because Hajin no longer trusted unmarked palace tables. Eirwen stood beside the desk, comparing Dominion's second frequency against a capital-ward diagram signed by three royal recorders.
A narrow evidence case rested beneath Vella's paired seals, with its custody strip signed across every hinge. Inside waited one vial of dark blood taken from the child beneath the Flesh Palace, isolated from every active sample.
Hajin reached toward the case just as the western window turned black around its silver frame.
No glass broke, yet a red seam opened from the upper corner to the latch, cutting through the palace's layered wards without disturbing them.
Someone stepped through a doorway cut into the evening sky, with long black hair, a bright red dress, and a familiar tail clearing the window before Cessy's second foot touched the carpet.
