The days that followed were laced with silence.
A silence too dense for peace, too sharp for mourning. It hung over Valleria like a noose made of smoke and broken trust. Even as reconstruction clawed forward across temple districts and shattered skybridges, Cambria Vale moved through the halls of her palace like a ghost wearing a crown.
Not queen. Not yet.
Not while the serpent still stirred in the north.
She stood now in the private solar, dawn bleeding through glass panes colored in red and gold. The message had burned, but the words remained carved into her mind:
The Queen's reign was never meant to end.
Maddox stepped into the room, no preamble. No guards. Just him and the weight between them.
"You didn't sleep."
Cambria didn't turn. "You didn't either."
He joined her at the window, arms folded. "Lucien's been in the crypts. I think he's looking for something."
"He always is."
"Do you trust him?"
Cambria's silence was answer enough.
Maddox nodded. "What about Knox?"
