“King Nikolai, if you are still alive, do not trust anyone who wears the emblem of the Ice Crown!”
Nikolai read the words carved into the stone wall for the third time. The warning had been hidden behind a loose section of the royal tomb, far from the main burial chamber. Whoever had left it there had expected someone to discover it, but the message offered no name and no explanation.
He ran his fingers over the inscription, checking whether there were any marks beneath the letters. The stone was old, but the cuts remained clear enough to read.
“Your Majesty, we should leave,” said Marek, the former royal soldier who had accompanied him into the tomb. “We have already found something worth bringing back. Staying longer will only give the guards more time to surround us.”
Nikolai turned
