Chapter 34 · Chapter 34

The silence that settled over the estate after the courier’s departure did not last until sunset. In a city governed by precedence and registry, an unanswered ledger is never ignored; it merely deepens the gravity of the summons.

I remained in the private wing where the heat of midday was muted by stone walls and the heavy drape of linen across the high courtyard embrasures. The room smelled faintly of Taif rose and seasoned agarwood, a trace that clung to the plaster long after the brass mabkhara had cooled.

On the low side table sat the black leather ledger, its corners crisp, the Al-Zahrani seal stamped in blind relief upon the binding. It was not a hidden thing now. It lay where anyone with the right to cross the inner threshold could see it—unaltered, unambiguous, and entirely out of reach of those who sat outside.

Footsteps sounded in the vestibule before the heavy cedar door.