Chapter 174

The night after their decision stretched long and thin, a thread pulled tight between hope and fear.

Sleep came in tatters. I drifted and rose, drifted and rose again, catching the flicker of torchlight under the door and the steady cadence of boots as our sentries changed posts.

Somewhere down the hall a child cried out from a dream and was soothed; somewhere in the courtyard a hammer rang once,