The first public defiance happened at midday.
Glosh was seated on the high dais when the commotion broke out—shouts near the western gate, steel ringing against stone, the unmistakable sound of fear trying to become anger. She rose slowly, every instinct already alert.
“Do not move,” her guard captain urged.
She ignored him.
From the battlements, she saw it clearly: a group of wolves refusing inspection, their insignia burned away, the broken-crown symbol carved openly into their armor.
Kael’s mark.
They weren’t attacking.
They were standing.
“That’s him,” someone whispered behind her. “He’s testing you.”
Glosh felt the weight of a hundred watching eyes—nobles, soldiers, envoys from allied lands. This was not a skirmish.
This was a question.
She descended the steps alone.
When
