Chapter 58

Zarek

The fortress breathed like a sleeping beast. Drafts whispered through its stone corridors, carrying the faint tang of sulfur from the firepits buried in the mountain’s heart. Torches guttered against walls blackened by centuries of smoke. I sat in the high seat carved into basalt, the jagged throne my father once ruled from, though its weight had never suited him. It suited me.

I could feel