Chapter 191

It began with footsteps.

Heavy, measured, far too many for the ordinary patrol.

Aethel was the first to notice.

She straightened, her hand resting on the hilt of her blade as the air shifted. Malcor came from the west corridor with three of his men, their movements sharp, predatory. Even before a guard rushed into the manor to announce it, I knew: strangers had crossed our borders.

Not rogues. Not