Sebastian
Brandur’s men were back.
They slinked through Yormsborg’s halls like shadows returned to a fire they never truly left. They didn’t hide—but they didn’t announce themselves either. Merek walked with his head high, speaking to the guards like he belonged again.
I didn’t confront them.
Not yet.
Instead, I pretended. A cool nod. A tight smile. As if nothing had happened. As if Denford’s hide hadn’t been laid out in my chambers like a warning. As if I hadn’t followed Merek into the tunnels two nights ago and watched him paddle away into the dark.
“We’re being watched,” I murmured to Skuld, my new second, a wiry she-wolf with a mind sharper than steel. We stood on the balcony overlooking the training yard.
She didn’t look at me; she just kept her eyes on the yard below. “Then w
