✿
"The stone is gone." Valda whispered while lifting her head, her heart pounding as she gazed at the bundle of clothes on her bed. She frantically searched every crevice of her outfit, and she had been certain it was safe in the pocket of her dress when she attended the palace gathering that night. How could it vanish without a trace? Had it slipped from her pocket without notice?
"You lost the stone." Sayge's voice was cool and unyielding, a contrast to the reaction Valda had been expecting. She leaned casually against the stone wall, her hands folded across her chest. Her gaze followed Valda who frantically searched through the folds of her dress—the same dress she had worn on the night she returned with Eryx.
The intimate image of how he had her in his arms made Sayge scowl inwardly, and she hissed out.