Malrik’s POV
The moment the session adjourned, Vladan and I slipped out of the council chambers and made our way back toward Silverlight. The drive was cloaked in a heavy, oppressive silence, the kind that presses against your ribs until it’s hard to breathe. The South was a storm building on the horizon, and I could feel the air tightening with its approach.
Before I could untangle my thoughts, my phone buzzed. Seraphiel’s name lit up the screen.
I answered immediately, bracing for whatever he had to say, but his voice shaken, uneven told me something was wrong before the words even came.
“The Council said it was a security matter,” he told me after a hesitant pause. “That’s all they’d share… and that’s all I could get.”
I exhaled sharply, the sound more frustration than relief. “Tha
