The Weight of Her Heart
Mia's shoulders shook, barely, like she was holding back more than just a nod. Her voice came out low, fragile, almost breaking—like the weight behind it was too much for words alone.
"I just… I worry for my mother."
Leon felt it before she even spoke—her fear, the tight, suffocating silence wrapped around her like a shroud. His golden eyes narrowed, catching the light sharp as a blade, but beneath that edge, there was something softer, quietly surprised and aching.
They all understood. The heaviness sat thick in the room, like a storm waiting to crash down. Everyone remembered what Leon had revealed. The truth about the monster behind the Eastern assault. The name of the traitor that turned their blood cold. And above all, the final, rasping words of dying General Dire—barely audible, yet heavy with doom: The Eastern border has already fallen.
Vellore's army had taken the Eastern Duchy.
