[Gale's POV]
From the first glance at that ostentatious treble clef keychain, my senses had screamed fake. The light refracted off it with a cheap, glassy uniformity, lacking the unique, chaotic fire of true gemstones. I knew Ace, with his princely coffers, wouldn't have batted an eye at the exorbitant price, fake or not, if Ovelia had shown even a flicker of desire for it. His logic would have been infuriatingly simple: if it makes her smile, it's worth any amount of gold.
But my attention had snagged on something else entirely. Nestled among the garish, fake-gem musical notes was a single, unassuming hexagon of grey stone. It was dull, pockmarked, and looked more like a piece of rubble than merchandise. The merchant had probably tossed it in as filler. Yet, I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. It looked like trash, but a deep, primal instinct in my gut hummed with certainty—this thing was valuable.
