[: 3rd POV :]
Arcturus—the Guild Master—tilted his head back and let out a jagged laugh, one that scraped against the stone chamber like broken glass.
His eyes, still burning with that maddened gleam, narrowed on Daniel as the boy stepped to the very front.
"Ho?" his voice dripped with mockery, though there was a twitch at the corner of his mouth, a crack in the mask of control.
"Quite cheeky of a brat like you to walk all the way here"
"Tell me..." his laughter came again, sharp and venomous, "—is this fearlessness? Or just plain recklessness?"
His words slithered across the chamber, sinking into the ears of the mercenaries and guild members.
Many of them flinched, their hearts tightening at the audacity of Daniel's approach.
To stand unflinching before the Guild Master, before the man who had just orchestrated a ritual of death, was unthinkable.
"No," he said simply, his tone carrying neither shout nor growl.
"This isn't fearlessness. And it isn't recklessness."
