The Sultan's Lost Locket

Previously

…“Gone,” the Royal Advisor stated, his voice a low, gravelly murmur that did nothing to soothe the rising panic. His face, usually a mask of composed authority, was etched with a worry that Ahmad had rarely seen. “The treasury guards swear no one entered. No doors forced, no windows broken. It simply… vanished.” Ahmad ran a gloved hand over the smooth, cool wood of the display case. Vanished. The word felt slippery, impossible. He looked at the hushed faces of the guards, their eyes wide with a fear that went beyond mere professional failure. Their fear was ancient, primal, tied to the whispers that had begun to slither through the palace corridors like venomous snakes: