"A kingdom is not destroyed by its enemies, but by the silence of those who knew and did nothing."
The council chamber was colder than usual. Or maybe it was me, and every stone of the vaulted ceiling, every polished seat of carved oak, every gilded torch along the wall felt sharper, harder, more suffocating than before. It was not the room that had changed; it was me. Yesterday, Elias, Taemin, Riven, Nyra, and Kael left the Northern Kingdom. They had walked out of these very gates, escorted under my orders, because I knew the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became for them.
And now… I had to face the rot that had driven me to that decision, and the doors closed behind me with a thunder boom. The sound reverberated like a death knell, and every single member of the royal council froze in their seats. My boots struck the marble floor with deliberate precision, each step echoing louder than the last. The throne-like chair at the head of the table waited, but I did not sit.
