The moonlight painted the stone halls silver, yet the air felt heavy, weighted with everything unspoken. Ariana walked beside Kael in silence after the council meeting, the echoes of their footsteps sharp against the cavernous chamber walls. Neither spoke, not with the eyes of sentries fixed on them, not with the sting of power still clinging to her skin.
But once the last guard bowed and shut the chamber doors behind them, silence became unbearable.
Kael turned on her.
“You dared,” he said, his voice quiet, but all the more dangerous for it. “In front of my council. In front of my people. You dared to defy me with… that.”
His golden eyes glowed in the dim light, not with anger alone but with something else—something deeper, darker.
Ariana’s hands trembled. The silver fire still humme
