The palace felt… normal again.
That was the problem.
Servants moved through the halls like nothing had happened. Guards rotated positions with the same precision. Council members spoke in low, measured tones as they passed one another.
Everything was in place.
Everything was controlled.
Everything looked exactly as it should.
Except them.
Kael stood just outside the council chamber, half-listening to the report being delivered in front of him.
“…the outer patrol remains stable. No unusual movement beyond the eastern ridge. We’ve doubled—”
“Good,” he said.
Too quickly.
The councilman paused.
Then nodded.
Kael dismissed him with a slight gesture, but he didn’t move immediately.
He stayed there.
In the corridor.
Still.
Because he felt it.
That absence.
The bond between him
