Chapter 24 Temporary Removal

• Kael’s POV
• The Council chamber felt less like a seat of power and more like a cold, dimly lit waiting room for an execution. The air was thick with the scent of aged parchment, expensive wood polish, and the collective anxiety of wolves who had forgotten how to fight and only remembered how to scheme.
• I sat at the head of the long, mahogany table, but it was just a formality. Varyn Torran, flanked by the senior Elders, controlled the room. They had summoned me, the King, like a disobedient child, and I had come. I had to. If I’d refused, they would have declared me fully rogue and launched a full military offensive. By showing up, I was playing their game, buying time. But the cost was my dignity.