"The war was outside, but here, in the sheets, we had built an invincible defense."
ELIAS'S POV
The silence in the royal suite had been suffocating all morning. Even with Rell quietly working on ward schematics at the office desk and Niko immersed in the dusty, forbidden texts, the air was thick with unspoken tension. I was the Anchor, the psychic center, and I felt every single pulse of anxiety radiating from the Keep. I knew Alaric was out there, moving the pieces, the assassins, the political rivals, the loyalists, all in a dangerous, deadly ballet.
