Chapter 7: Echoes of Heat
[WEEKS LATER]
The Rynthall Estate,
The Rynthall Estate basked beneath the golden afternoon sun, its sprawling grounds humming with cicadas and the distant chatter of training knights. The air was thick with warmth, clinging to the skin like a second layer.
Inside the main study, however, the mood couldn’t have been more different.
"—and according to reports, something monstrous has been spotted near the outer villages by the border," Silas’s assistant Callen Ryhs said, standing stiffly with parchment in hand. "A creature, possibly magical in origin. Several livestock were found mutilated."
But the Grand Duke of Aetherian, Silas Virellian Rynthall, wasn’t listening.
Not really.
He sat in a deep leather chair near the open window, where the breeze barely stirred the heavy air. His elbow rested on the armrest, fingers pressed against his temple, as if steadying a headache—or something more persistent.
His crimson gaze wasn’t on the parchment. It was miles away. Back in the imperial palace.
Back in a bed tangled with sweat and silk.
Back to the night he couldn’t seem to shake.