Chapter 105 — The First Fracture
The northern border winds howled like grieving spirits as the war party rode out at first light.
Cairis led from the front on his massive shadow steed, fully armored in black obsidian plate, his presence radiating the old ruthless authority that had once made kingdoms tremble. Behind him rode two hundred elite warriors, banners of the Obsidian Throne snapping in the bitter wind. Liora rode near the center, wrists and ankles still bound by enchanted suppression chains, the silver collar gleaming at her throat like a brand of ownership.
She had not slept.
Every night since the artifact awakened had been a battlefield of the heart. Cairis summoned her for long, torturous sessions — mocking her, testing her, fighting invisible wars against the fragments of memory trying to surface. Last night had been the worst. He had nearly broken in front of her, only to rebuild the cold wall higher than before.
Now he refused to even look at her.
