**Nymera’s POV**
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He was already waiting when I stepped into the clearing.
No guards. No entourage. Just him.
The High Spiral.
He looked nothing like a warlord.
He was small. Slender. Dressed in robes that shimmered like ink under moonlight. His face was painted in the spiral’s mark, etched in white ash from jaw to temple. But it was his eyes that stopped me.
Pale. Pupil-less. Seeing *through* me.
He smiled as I approached.
“I knew you’d come,” he said.
I didn’t reply.
Kaelith stood behind me, tense.
Dain flanked the other side, silent and armed.
“I didn’t come for you,” I said. “I came to tell you to stop.”
“You misunderstand,” the High Spiral said gently. “We don’t follow *you.* We *complete* you.”
His voice was soft, like a prayer whispered in the dark.
I wanted to tu
