"You may have set the pieces, Vorath, but you severely underestimated the power of true connection. This was not a lure but It was a salvation."
ALARIC'S POV
The heavy oak door of my Royal Office closed behind Niko, sealing in silence but trapping the anxiety. I did not sit; I could not. The knowledge that the knife had been exchanged for a spell, the assassins for a political figure, demanded movement. I was still the Alpha King, but the chessboard had flipped, and I was playing blind against a power I did not fully grasp.
I stood by the window for a long minute, watching the weak sunlight fall on the grey courtyard stones. The physical exhaustion was dull, constantly aching, but the psychic weight was crushing. I had countered the military coup, but I had only triggered the magical contingency. My strategy had been flawless, but it had only served Vorath's plan.
