The words struck like a thunderclap in Alen's mind.
Raze's warning , that the Grand Magus himself was coming for his life , was so sudden, so unbelievable, that for a moment Alen thought he had misheard. The idea was absurd. Why now, in the middle of the night? Why would someone of Ibarin's rank and stature personally come to kill him?
His brow furrowed as he tried to process it. If this were any other moment, if the warning had been delivered under calmer circumstances, Alen would have brushed it aside as manipulation. It could have been nothing more than another attempt from Raze to convince him that the Grand Magus were all corrupt, all dangerous. After all, so far, Alen had only glimpsed pieces of proof of the Council's darker deeds , enough to plant suspicion, but not enough to condemn them entirely.
