Kael
Staying in the room all alone while being treated like a slave made isolation taste like ash on my skin.
Three days confined to the estate, three days of guards stationed outside my door, the way the guards looked at me made me realize that I was no longer Alpha. I was just a man under investigation, stripped of authority and respect.
Through the window, I watched patrol movements along the borders. Slower than they should be while being less coordinated. The command structure I'd built over years was fracturing in my absence, and everyone could feel it, especially Lord Druk.
My scouts still reported to me, defying the priest's orders because they understood what the elders refused to see. Druk's forces were moving closer, consolidating positions. Probing our weakened defenses for
