Chapter 17 The Crown That Wait

• Durnhold didn’t sleep. Not really.
• Even after the battle was won, torches stayed lit. People moved through the streets like ghosts—searching for loved ones, burying the dead, holding what was left of the world they knew. The scent of blood lingered beneath the perfume of rain-soaked stone.
• Kael walked the upper corridors of the ruined castle with slow, deliberate steps. His body ached—ribs wrapped, shoulder bruised, a stitch in his side that refused to fade. But it was his heart that weighed heavier.