The comfortable warmth of Rachel's embrace was still settling around me when Cecilia cleared her throat pointedly, her crimson eyes holding that calculating gleam that usually preceded her more strategic moves.
"Since we're discussing gifts," she said, reaching into her spatial storage with practiced elegance, "I have something for you as well, Arthur."
She withdrew a sword case made of polished ebony wood, its surface inscribed with intricate silver runes that seemed to pulse with contained power. The craftsmanship alone suggested whatever lay inside was worth more than most people's annual salaries. The case itself radiated an aura of barely contained magical energy that made the air around it shimmer slightly.
"Cecilia," I said carefully, reluctantly disentangling myself from Rachel enough to give the case proper attention, "you didn't need to—"
