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51: Duty

Author: Gudwritez
last update Last Updated: 2025-08-18 23:03:28

Elder Hadrek’s POV

The chamber had never felt so restless. The walls themselves seemed to hold the unease, the murmurs bouncing off the stone and coming back sharper than they had been spoken. We sat in our circle, twelve elders, twelve voices meant to guide the throne in the King’s absence, yet all I could hear was the slow unraveling of our patience. Two weeks. That was how long it had been since Lucien had taken to his bed. Two weeks since he had gone quiet, too quiet, with only rumors and whispers to fill the silence he left behind.

The torches along the wall flickered as though even the fire was tired of waiting. Some elders leaned forward, restless, others leaned back with folded arms, but none of us could pretend we weren’t thinking the same thing—that something was wrong, and the longer we left it unsaid, the more it grew.

Elder Rowan was the first to break. His voice was thin but sharp, like a blade pressed just enough to draw a bead of blood. “Two weeks,” he muttered, shakin
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