The months blurred forward, carried on the steady hum of the palace and the weight of anticipation that no war, no rebellion, no shard could quite rival. The fragments of Goliath's runes still sat in Gabriel's study, silent and unsolved, but they were no longer the center of his days. His body carried heavier truths now, each month bending time around it, each quickening kick reminding him that some legacies could not be read in scorched crystal, only born anew.
When the moment came, the palace shifted as though the wards themselves held their breath. The air filled with ether and silence, corridors stilled by expectation, and the hum of conduits drowned by a heartbeat sharper than steel.
