Three weeks.
Eve had been gone for three weeks. The burns on my hands scabbed over each morning and split by nightfall, leaking black fluid onto my cuffs.
My strength had once frightened whole armies. Now each day took more effort to rise from bed.
I sealed every window against the sun. At night I paced, reaching again and again for a bond that no longer existed.
The court noticed.
Torches smoked in the grand hall of the Elder’s Council. I sat straight on the throne and kept my burned hands inside my sleeves.
My cousin Lucian had waited decades for this. He stood before the council with the patient look of a man finally seeing an old wager pay out.
“The border patrols report weakness and instability. Our Prince seems unwell.”
“My health is my own concern,” I snarled, the effort sen
