Daniel’s POV
The first whispers of war came quietly.
Not with trumpets or banners, but with hushed voices in hallways, with tightened jaws in council chambers, with guards doubling at the palace gates.
I felt it before I fully understood it—an unease that settled over the palace like a heavy fog.
Something was coming.
I noticed it in the kitchens first. Supplies were counted more carefully. Meat was salted and stored in larger quantities. Grain was measured, sealed, and moved to deeper storage rooms.
They are Preparing for war.
That word echoed in my mind as I worked.
“Have you heard?” a young kitchen boy whispered as we chopped vegetables side by side. “They say the eastern borders are restless.”
I kept my expression calm. “Rumors spread faster than truth.”
He shook his head. “T
