THE VELVET HUSH

Chapter 8: The King's Cough

​The walk back to the royal chambers felt like marching into a forge. The air in the palace had become so saturated with solar energy that the very walls seemed to be humming. Servants lay slumped against the marble, their eyes covered with wet cloths, unable to endure the brilliance. The "Solar Fever" wasn't just in the King; it was leaking into the foundations of the kingdom itself.

​When Elara reached the King's golden doors, she found them guarded by the Solar Wardens—men in armor polished to a mirror finish, reflecting the light so intensely they were difficult to look at.

​"Stand aside," Elara commanded. Her voice was different now; it had a weight to it, a resonance that seemed to dampen the buzzing of the light-stones in the hallway.

​"The King is in the final stages of Purge," the lead Warden said, his voice strained. "No one enters. The High Priest is channeling the Great Crystal's direct essence. It is too dangerous."

​"The High Priest is a fool who is cooking his King," Elara said. She didn't wait for permission. She let a small puff of shadow escape her sleeve. It didn't attack the Wardens; it simply drifted into the joints of their armor and the visors of their helmets. Suddenly, the Wardens found they couldn't move. Their armor felt heavy, cool, and strangely sleepy. They didn't fall; they simply leaned against the wall, their heads lolling as if they had just finished a twenty-course feast.

​Elara pushed the doors open. The heat hit her like a physical blow. In the center of the room, King Alaric was levitating inches above his bed, his body glowing with a light so white it had turned blue. The High Priest stood at the foot of the bed, his arms raised, screaming incantations that sounded like the crackling of dry timber.

​The King let out a cough—but it wasn't a sound of lungs and air. It was a sound of steam and breaking glass. A spray of golden sparks flew from his mouth, scorching the velvet canopy of the bed. He was burning from the inside out.