Kael’s POV
I knew the moment the Silver riders crossed our border that the council would turn on me.
Not publicly.
Not foolishly.
But carefully.
Strategically.
The chamber doors closed behind us with a hollow thud that echoed longer than it should have. The elders took their seats without speaking, their silver threaded cloaks pooling against the stone floor like gathering storm clouds.
They were afraid.
Not of the Silver faction.
Of her.
“She reacted,” Elder Marcellus said finally.
I did not ask him to clarify.
I had felt it.
When the rider’s gaze landed on her, the mark on my chest had burned like iron pressed to skin. It had not responded in curiosity. It had responded in warning.
“The bond is accelerating,” another elder added. “Faster than the fragments predicted.”
Frag
