Kael’s POV
For a heartbeat, everything held still.
The storm outside struck the windows like a drumbeat, the flames inside bowing low in their sconces. Every man in the room waited to see what would happen next—whether I would draw my sword or my breath.
Malrik still stood before me, his hand resting on the hilt at his side. The sneer on his face trembled, a small, human crack in the mask he had worn for decades.
I had seen that same tremor once before—years ago, when I was small enough to hide behind my mother’s skirts. That same flicker of uncertainty had crossed his features the day she dared to defy him in public. It had lasted only a second, but I had never forgotten it.
He’d broken her afterward for that second.
He would not break me.
I drew in a long breath. The air burned co
