The council chamber was heavy with incense smoke and tension, thick enough to choke on. The fire in the great hearth crackled, throwing shadows across carved stone walls that had borne witness to centuries of blood, power, and betrayal. Tonight, those walls would witness something far darker.
Kael stood at the head of the long oak table, broad shoulders tense, eyes burning with that predatory gold that always seemed one breath away from snapping. Ariana sat silently at his side, her hands folded in her lap, though her pulse was a wild thing beneath her skin. She could feel the weight of every stare, every councilman leaning forward as if the very air had sharpened into knives.
Lucien’s visit days before had planted a seed of paranoia, and now it had grown into a storm ready to break.
“T
