Raegar watched as the woman's eyes burned thanks to a feverish glint as she drew a thin, rune-carved band from her cloak, an Aether Blocker. Using a practiced motion, she fastened it around his neck, the cold metal biting into his skin.
The air thickened, his connection to the aether severed, and a jolt of dread coursed through him as he sensed her power that rivaled the legendary might of his grandfather, the Lion of Dawnfire.
Before he could react, her fingers clamped onto his wrist, her touch both possessive and unrelenting, pulling him toward a shadowed hallway as his head kept spinning thanks to whatever herb she gave him.
''Come, my love,'' she purred, her voice a dangerous caress. ''We need a place where it's just you and me.''
Raegar's pulse hammered, his body moving against his will, drawn by her commanding grip through a labyrinth of dim corridors to a small, hidden room. Dust cloaked the walls, muffling the world outside.
