The night smelled of rain and smoke.
Kaela crouched on the roof of a crooked building, her knees aching from the long wait. Below, the cobbled street was empty except for a drunk staggering toward the tavern at the corner. Lantern light swung in the breeze, throwing shadows across the wet stones.
She had been watching the royal treasury for hours, counting the guards and their lazy patterns. Two at the front door, one at the back. They barely glanced over their shoulders. It made her grin.
"Too easy," she whispered to herself.
The job had come from a man she didn't trust.
Talon. Always smiling too much, always smelling faintly of spice and steel. He had told her there was something in the treasury worth more than gold, something small enough to carry but valuable enough to buy her way out of this city forever. He hadn't told her exactly what it was. That bothered her, but not enough to turn down the chance.
The rain started as a light drizzle, soft against her face. Perfect cover.
She dropped from the roof to the alley below, landing with barely a sound. Her boots sank into the mud. A quick glance left and right—still clear.
At the back of the treasury, the guard leaned against the wall, head tipped back, eyes half-closed. She pulled a pebble from her pocket and flicked it toward the far end of the alley. It clinked against the stones. The guard muttered and wandered off to check.
Kaela slipped inside.
The treasury smelled of dust and metal. Shelves stacked with coins and chests filled the room. She ignored them. Gold was heavy and loud, and Talon had said to look for a small wooden box with silver hinges.
She found it on the top shelf, hidden under a folded cloth. Light as a loaf of bread. When she opened it, her breath caught.
Inside, resting on black velvet, was an egg.
It wasn't like any egg she had ever seen. The shell shimmered with gold and bronze, the colors shifting as she tilted it. Warmth pulsed against her fingertips, almost like a heartbeat.
"What are you?" she murmured.
A sound behind her made her freeze. Footsteps—fast. She shut the box, tucking it under her cloak just as the door banged open.
"Hey!" the guard shouted.
Kaela ran.
She dodged between shelves, her boots thudding against the stone floor. The guard's armor clanked behind her. She burst out into the alley, splashing through puddles, and didn't stop running until she reached the narrow streets of the old quarter.
Her lungs burned. She ducked into a doorway and pressed her back to the wall, clutching the box to her chest. The rain was falling harder now, washing the sweat from her face.
She opened the box again, just to make sure it was real. The egg's glow seemed brighter in the dark, as if it knew it had been stolen.
Something deep in her chest tightened. This wasn't gold. This wasn't just another job.
Somewhere in the city, a bell began to ring. One… two… three times. The alarm.
Kaela shut the box and pulled up her hood. Time to disappear before the whole guard force came looking.
But as she stepped back into the street, she had the strange feeling that the egg was watching her… and that her life had just changed in a way she couldn't yet imagine.