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                                                PART I:   BEFORE THE STARLIGHT WALTZS

KYANTE'S LAIR

The first thing Edina felt was the cold.

Not the kind that prickled your skin or hinted at winter. No—this cold crept inside her, deep into her bones, like something was wrong with the air itself. It didn’t just touch her. It settled in her, like it belonged there.

Her eyes blinked open, lids heavy with sleep that felt too long, too thick, like she’d been buried alive in it. Light flickered above her, dim and uneven, casting strange shadows on jagged stone walls. The stones were etched with runes—glowing faintly, pulsing like they were breathing.

Where am I?

She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn't move. There were no chains, no ropes. Just... pressure. Like the air itself was holding her down, pressing into her chest, her limbs, her skull. Her heart raced, her breath coming in short gasps that tasted metallic. Wrong.

Something was watching her.

She didn’t see them at first, but she felt them—pressing against her mind, crowding the edges of her awareness. Slowly, stiffly, she turned her head.

And there they were.

Figures lined the edges of the room—dozens of them, standing motionless, eyeless. Their faces looked almost human... until you really looked. Their skin was stretched too tight, their mouths too still, their bodies locked in stiff, puppet-like silence. And where eyes should have been, there was only black sludge, swirling slowly like ink in water.

One of them tilted its head. Jerky. Wrong. Curious.

Edina's body tensed, a shiver running straight down her spine. “What... what do you want?” Her voice cracked, hoarse, barely above a whisper. But the words echoed anyway, swallowed by the cavernous space.

No answer. Just more stillness.

And then—

A voice.

Not from the creatures. No, this voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Low. Smooth. Wrong. It wrapped around her like smoke, too soft to fight off.

“You’re awake, little human,” it purred, sweet as poison. “Good. I was beginning to think I’d broken you.”

A shape peeled itself from the shadows, each step graceful, deliberate. A woman—tall, cloaked in midnight. Her gown shimmered like oil on water, flowing behind her like it had a will of its own. Pale legs peeked through a high slit with each step, and her white hair tumbled down her back like liquid moonlight.

Her eyes—sharp silver, glowing—found Edina, and stayed there.

“You...” Edina’s throat burned. “Who are you?”

The woman smiled, and it was all wrong—too many teeth, too sharp. “Names are such delicate things. But you can call me Kyante.”

The name hit like a punch.

Maerwynn had mentioned her once, in a whisper. A nightmare passed down in half-told stories.

Edina’s fear twisted into something hotter—anger. “What do you want from me? Let me go.”

Kyante laughed, rich and cold. “Let you go?” she echoed, amused. “Oh, no, sweet thing. You’re here for a reason.” She leaned in, her voice a breath against Edina’s cheek. “You’re the key.”

“The key to what?” Edina snapped, panic breaking through her voice as she fought the invisible force holding her down.

Kyante’s smile widened, and her tone dropped to a hush that was somehow louder than a scream. “To your sister, of course. That little Aether-born who thinks she’s powerful enough to defy me. She will come for you, Edina. She’ll walk straight into my hands. And when she does…”

A slow blink. A shimmer of silver.

“I’ll break her. Right in front of you. At the Starlight Waltz.”

“No,” Edina growled, defiance rising. “You won’t touch her.”

Kyante only laughed again, soft and scornful. “Oh, you’ll try to stop me. They always do. But in the end, you’ll do exactly what I need you to. You’ll lead her here. And she’ll hand me everything.”

She turned then, her gown trailing behind her like liquid shadow. The eyeless creatures stirred at her movement, tilting as if drawn to her presence.

But Edina wasn’t looking at them anymore. Her heart thudded in her chest as the pressure around her loosened slightly—barely. Enough to breathe. Enough to think.

She needed a plan. A crack. A moment.

She needed to get out.

She couldn’t let this be the trap Maerwynn walked into.

Kyante paused in the doorway, one final look thrown over her shoulder—those molten silver eyes gleaming with cruel delight.

Then she was gone, and the scent she left behind was sweet… but off. Like spoiled fruit hidden beneath perfume.

Edina stared up at the stone ceiling, her body still pinned, her mind already moving.

She didn’t know how yet.

But she was getting out of here.