[Lior's POV — The Next Morning — Morvael Castle]
GALLOP—! GALLOP—! CLUNK —!
The carriage wheels struck frozen stone as we rolled through the gates of Morvael Castle. Inside the carriage, silence stretched thick and uncomfortable between us.
Snow fell softly across the courtyard outside—not a storm this time, just quiet white flakes drifting down like ash from a dying fire. The horses stamped against the frozen ground, their breath rising into the air in pale clouds.
Behind the carriage, several Morvael knights rode in formation. Their armor gleamed faintly beneath heavy fur cloaks, disciplined, silent, and watching everything.
I clenched the fur cloak around my shoulders. It was the same cloak he had wrapped around me the night he kidnapped me; the memory made my fingers tighten unconsciously.
Across from me, Alaric sat unmoving, his posture straight, his silver eyes calm and distant. He noticed the way I held the cloak and said flatly, "The temple road is long."
