The chamber doors slammed shut behind the departing lords, the echoes rolling like thunder through the cavernous room. Meredith's hands still trembled in her lap, though she kept them hidden beneath folds of silk.
Kael did not move. He stood tall beside her, gaze fixed on the banners overhead as if their loyalty could be summoned by sheer will.
"Your silence cost us half the court," Meredith said at last, her voice brittle.
Kael turned, slow as a drawn blade. "Your words held the rest."
She wanted to laugh, sharp and bitter. Instead, she rose from the throne, the circlet catching light like a shackle of fire. "Don't mistake survival for victory. They will plot, Kael. Lord Harrow does not sulk—he schemes. You've made an enemy who carries the weight of three provinces."
Kael stepped closer, his shadow cutting across her. "I made an enemy the moment I touched this crown. Better I know his face than be stabbed in the dark."
Meredith met his eyes, refusing to flinch. They were steel, his—unyielding, cold. And yet, beneath the frost, something burned: hunger, not for her, but for power that would not let go once tasted.
She turned away, walking to the tall windows overlooking the city. Torches flickered in the streets below, distant shouts drifting up like a tide. The people had heard the lords' defiance already, she was sure. The kingdom would split, brick by brick, loyalty by loyalty.
And she was the mortar holding it together.
A voice stirred behind her, softer now, almost tender. "You saved me tonight."
Her throat closed. Saved him? Or damned herself? She did not answer.
Instead, she pressed her palm against the cool glass and whispered, unheard, I want to go home.
But the walls of the palace did not care, nor did the banners, nor the crown pressing her skull. They were listening only for the next command, the next decree, the next lie she would be forced to tell in a world that was no longer hers.
Behind her, Kael's footsteps echoed as he left her alone in the chamber. His voice lingered in her memory, a warning dressed as gratitude.
"You did it. And that is enough."