Chapter 230

Elora

The gates opened at dawn.

Not with fanfare. Not with shouts. Not even with the thunder of iron hinges grinding against stone. They opened slowly, quietly, as though the Aethel-Bulwark itself knew who stood beyond them and chose not to resist.

Valerius.

He looked nothing like the man I remembered from weeks before. His robes were torn, his hair matted with ash, his once-proud posture stooped