Chapter 27 Twenty-six

• "Silence!" Draeven thundered once more, his voice slicing through the stunned silence that had gripped the execution grounds. His chest rose and fell with barely restrained fury as he pulled Avelyn closer, her unconscious form pressing heavily against him. The warmth of her body against his own only seemed to fuel the tempest raging within him.
• "You will answer for your actions," he snarled, his voice dropping to a dangerously low register, each word laced with a deadly promise. "Every. Single. One. Of. You."
• For the first time, those present saw something in their king they had never anticipated—desperation. Draeven, molded from childhood to be heartless, indifferent, and ruthless, now stood before them shaken, his control slipping. His usually cold and calculating eyes burned with raw, unrestrained anger, his usual flawless composure nowhere to be seen.