The next morning, the Matten estate returned to its normal routine.
The air carried the scents of polished wood, sun-warmed stone, and the faint aroma of herbs used by the kitchen maids. Guards patrolled their routes with stoic discipline, and the sweeping of brooms and clinking of dishes created a soft background noise of normalcy.
Yet Ezra could feel it, like a stone under the bed of silk. The feeling of something yet to come.
Because there was still one prince from the Daylight Court who hadn't sent any gifts.
Prince Romanus.
The Prince that sees all.
And that absence, that silence, was deafening.
Ezra knew better than to assume forgetfulness. Romanus never forgot. Not when he had Omnia, the relic that allowed one to see all that is hidden and all that was in the open. To see the truth of things.
