The first attempt came quietly. Not with fire, not with holy trumpets or divine judgment.
It came the way the Church preferred its dirtiest work done in silence, deniability, and shadows that could be blamed on anyone else.
Kael felt it before it happened.
Not danger exactly because danger was loud, crude, impatient. This was subtler. A wrongness in the air, like breath being held too long. The wards around the estate had not been breached. They hadn’t even been touched.
Which meant the threat was already inside.
Kael stopped mid-step.
The corridor outside Eron’s room was dim, lit only by a single lantern swaying gently from a draft that should not have existed. The servants were asleep. The guards posted at the outer gates remained too ignorant.
Kael closed his eyes and extended hi
