Chapter 58: Red Nightgown Protocol
The ravens were restless again.
Corvin leaned back in his throne as a flurry of mental images arrived from the skyward scouts. The final convoy of the day had reached the gates of Raven’s Nest, and judging by the proud strut of one figure and the glazed dreaminess of the other, he recognized both and was already wishing he did not.
Valyne and Kaelyn.
He sighed out of pure, distilled reluctance. Of all the visitors he had expected today, the Synod’s most beautiful.. scratch that smoking hot instructor and Yvanna’s overeager advisor were not rvrn at the bottom of the list.
Valyne, of course, marched as if the entire mountain owed her tribute and was late delivering it. Every step was a statement. Every flick of her cloak a complaint. Corvin watched her from the mental images with an arched brow and the same vague disinterest he gave to storm clouds.
Kaelyn, on the other hand, floated next to her like a girl walking through a field of dreams and polite delusions. Her pace was lighter, almost as if she were dancing to music only she could hear. Not dangerous, not even annoying, just... excessive. And probably expecting some kind of magical mentorship or spatial revelation.
He sent a simple command to the gate guards, Let them in. Escort them to the throne room. Try not to get pulled into a monologue.
Descending the obsidian stairs into the throne chamber, Corvin took his seat and let the silence build around him. The brazier flames crackled in the still air, casting shifting shadows on the polished floor. He had no great expectations for this meeting. He had already siphoned both women before, especially Valyne, back in the Arcanum and in her lectures.
She was sharp, prideful, and prone to indignation. But she wasn’t reckless. And she certainly wasn’t a threat, not to him. Just a weight of obligation draped in elegance dreamlike beauty and arcane rank.
As for Kaelyn, she was... a curiosity. Loyal to Yvanna, filled with bright hopes and a borderline theatrical fondness for magic. She had no place here. And yet, here she was.
A few minutes later, the great doors opened.