Chapter 62 The Weight Of Shadows

• The council chamber felt heavier than usual, as though the walls themselves had absorbed the echoes of everything they had seen in the ruins. The air was thick with the lingering tang of burned stone and faint ozone, remnants of the mirror’s destruction. Lanterns cast wavering amber light across the chamber, bouncing off the polished wood of the long council table and throwing everyone’s faces into sharp relief.
• Lucia sat quietly at the head of the table, her pale face framed by a halo of silver hair streaked with the faint shimmer of residual energy from the crown. Shadow-ringed eyes stared ahead, watching, listening, but betraying the exhaustion and pain clawing through her veins. Beside her, Mirabelle kept her gaze fixed on her daughter, hands folded tightly in her lap, knuckles whitening. Abby, seated on the other side, leaned forward slightly, brow furrowed, lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes, normally so steady and motherly toward Lucia, betrayed worry she could no longer hide.
• Kelvin, standing at the far end of the table with arms crossed, broke the tense silence. His voice was low, firm, and carried the weight of unrelenting pressure. “This curse won’t stop. It’s growing stronger every day.”