The king's steps echoed down the marble corridor before Equito even saw him. His voice carried, sharp and cutting, through the outer doors as he entered the sanctum. "Explain this at once!"
The guard who had sprinted into the room stammered, sweat dripping from his brow. "Your Majesty, it is true. Kael, Your son… he is alive. He moved, and he breathed. He… he coughed."
A ripple of shock spread through the priests, who froze mid-chant. The younger priests huddled together, whispering prayers that sounded like desperate incantations against the impossible.
The king's face was red with rage. His hands clenched into fists so tight the knuckles whitened. His eyes blazed as he surveyed the room, the altar, the gathered clergy, and finally the raised platform where Kael lay. He stepped forward, his voice thundering through the sanctum. "How dare any of you bring me this mockery! My son was dead. You told me he was dead. And now you claim he breathes?"
Equito remained still. Her gloved hands pressed lightly to the edge of the platform. She had no words. She could not explain what had happened. Not yet.
The king strode toward the raised dais, each step like a drumbeat of fury. "Guards, seize the priests and remove them from my sight if they cannot speak the truth!" His eyes turned on Equito, sharp and accusatory. "And you," he barked, "knight of the Third Order, tell me how you have delivered my son to me dead and now claim he lives?"
Equito bowed her head, her voice steady despite the terror in her chest. "Your Majesty, I swear to you, he was dead when I brought him. I performed my duty as instructed. Whatever has occurred since then is beyond my control."
The king's fists pounded the marble floor. "Beyond your control? Do you mean to tell me some trick of fate, some sorcery, has reversed death itself in my son's body? Are you blind or do you mock me?"
A priest gasped, clutching his robes. One of the younger acolytes whispered, "It is impossible. Nothing should defy death so."
Equito's eyes flicked to the platform. Kael's chest rose slowly now, the fabric of the linens moving with each shallow breath. His fingers flexed, curling slightly as if testing their own strength. His eyelids twitched again, but still did not open.
The king's face went pale, then red, then pale again. "Stand aside! Clear the room. I will not be surrounded by cowards and fools while my son defies all natural law!"
Guards moved quickly, shoving priests aside and clearing the sanctum with the clatter of boots and the whispers of frightened acolytes. Equito remained, her gaze locked on Kael's form, sensing the impossible energy radiating from him.
The king stepped forward, nearly beside the platform now. His eyes, blazing with fury and disbelief, locked onto Equito. "If this boy has truly returned from death," he said, voice low and dangerous, "then I will have answers. Every detail, every moment. No one, no matter their station, shall withhold the truth from me."
Equito swallowed hard, her hands gripping the edge of the platform. She did not move Kael. She did not speak further. The truth was too fragile, too horrifying. She only watched as the king's fury filled the room, echoing off the stone walls and shaking the very air around them.
Kael's shallow breaths continued. The faint twitch of his fingers went unnoticed by the king, whose mind was consumed with rage, grief, and fear. The impossible reality of his long-lost son's revival was crashing down on him, threatening to tear reason from the room entirely.
The sanctum was silent now except for Kael's faint breaths, the subtle flex of his fingers, and the pounding of the king's heart as he realized that nothing within the realm, within law, or within the natural world could contain what had just occurred.
Equito's eyes did not leave him. She had carried him through death, witnessed the impossible, and now knew without doubt that the kingdom's fate had shifted. Whatever Kael had become, it would not end here, in this chamber. It would not wait for consent.
The king's voice cut through her thoughts again, sharp, unyielding. "Tell me everything. Begin at once."
Equito inhaled, steadying herself. The world had changed. Death had been defied. And she was the only one who had seen the truth.