Shadow Heir
“The city’s not like the keep. There, people smile while measuring the weight of your shadow. And once they know it, they’ll see if they can cut it free.”
They rode on. As the day wore into evening, the road narrowed, flanked by stands of black alder that seemed to swallow the last of the light. Then, as if the forest had opened a curtain, they crested a rise—and the Twilight City spread out before them.
It was unlike anything Eolan had imagined. Towers of pale stone rose from a labyrinth of streets, their windows glowing with amber light. Lanterns—some suspended from high wires, others floating as if on unseen strings—drifted through the air, casting the city in perpetual dusk. The light wa