For three months, it was quiet. Too quiet.
Humans went back to normal. News called the church explosion a gas leak. Lena got a job at a bookstore. Arian tried sleeping without one eye open.
But he could feel Viktor out there, learning, waiting. A king doesn't stay beaten.
Lena found Arian on the roof one night. "You're brooding again."
"I'm thinking," he said. "What if sealing it wasn't enough? What if next time he finds a way around it?"
Lena sat beside him and opened the artifact. It was dull now, sleeping. "Then we unseal it and beat him worse."
Arian almost smiled. Almost.