The air in the great hall was stifling, heavy with the tension of too many unspoken truths. Asher sat at the head of the council table, his dark eyes scanning the faces of his advisors with the sharpness of a blade. Every movement, every word spoken in this room, felt like it carried the weight of a kingdom on the brink.
And I could feel the undercurrent of unease, even from my seat near the edge of the room. The energy was wrong, the kind of wrong that sent shivers down my spine and set my instincts on edge.
“Reports from the eastern border suggest the rebellion is gaining traction,” one of the councillors, Eldrin, said, his voice grim. “They’ve overtaken three villages in the last week alone.”
Asher’s jaw tightened. “And our forces?”
“Spread too thin,” Eldrin admitted. “If we move tr
