The Rule
A subtle music bloomed within the enclosed walls, soft as breath, before fading once more into stillness.
At last, he withdrew, brushing his lips against hers one final time.
“Come,” he said, voice low and commanding, yet with an edge of care. “Let us leave the water now. The morning awaits its king.”
***
It had taken nearly two full days—two days of toil, gratitude, and the heavy lifting of justice—to see the last of the spoils distributed. Cattle, gold, silver, bronze, tapestries of rarest weave, and ornate rugs that once adorned Calantha’s palaces now lay in the hands of those who had earned them in blood. The soldiers were rewarded not only with riches but with the king’s personal word o