Hundreds of thousands of kilometres to the north, inside a palatial private suite at the top of the First-Year Spire of Archon Academy, a porcelain teacup shattered against the marble wall.
CRASH!!
"Dead?! You're telling me Marcus and all six of my family's Platinum guards are dead?!!"
Standing in the centre of the opulent suite was a tall, handsome young man of seventeen with swept-back golden-brown hair and cold amber eyes, dressed in the white-and-gold uniform of an elite Archon Academy freshman.
He was Cassian Vane, second young master of the Vane Clan.
In front of him, a holographic screen was still frozen on the final frame transmitted by Marcus's recording crystal last night: the terrifying, blood-soaked face of a half-silver-haired boy with glowing violet eyes, staring straight into the camera lens a split second before a crimson scythe severed Marcus's head from his shoulders!!
