Chapter 57. Where the Mark Leads

She left the Red House without ceremony.

No guards escorted her this time. No quiet agents trailing behind. Sayris hadn’t even tried to detain her—and that was what unsettled Adria most. The ease of it. The permission.

By the time she reached the upper districts, the streets were still mostly empty. Morning had not fully arrived, and Solara slept under the hush of frost. The cobblestones were dusted white, but the sky above was dry—no snow falling now, just the echo of it. The scent of ash lingered faintly in the air.

She wrapped her cloak tighter and pushed forward.

The Archive gates stood open, flanked by two yawning gargoyles and the soft hiss of everburn lamps. No one greeted her. She moved through the marble halls as if in a trance, her footsteps absorbed by the silence.

In her chamber, she didn’t bother lighting a lantern. Just stood for a long time in the middle of the room, cloak still on, fingers still wrapped around the shard Sayris had given