Unbeknownst to the people within the walls of Sienna-Rose's estate, the royal envoy had yet to leave the Azure Valley town. Despite being scheduled to return to the capital a week ago after Sienna-Rose kicked them out from her estate.
Marquis Elrod lingered, cloaked in anxiety and indecision. The message from the king had been uncompromising: "Bring her to the capital. Do whatever it takes." There was no tolerance for excuses, no place for failure.
But failure is precisely what stared Elrod in the face. The sorceress who had bested Ulysses Elowen—one of the court's most revered magic wielders—is far more than a provincial oddity. Sienna-Rose had become a figure of whispered awe. Elrod's attempts to coerce her had been quietly but firmly rebuffed. Now, he is caught in a web of pride, fear, and rising panic.
