2026-10-27 19:30:10Kaedric remained in the bath until the water lost its colour.
The poison was gone, but it had left every muscle in his body aching. The night without sleep, the visit to his parents’ tomb and the fight with Toren had joined together inside his head. He wanted one quiet hour. He did not expect to get it. Kaedric dressed and sent for Vargr. The Lawspeaker arrived moments later. His eyes moved over the broken door, the frozen dust and t
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141
“Shields!” Vargr roared. The Ashkim soldiers locked their shields together as the first White Wraiths rose from beneath the snow. Pale hands struck the formation, leaving frost wherever they touched. Kaedric watched a wraith attempt to climb over the shields. He raised two fingers, and a root burst from the ground, caught the creature around its neck, and dragged it beneath the snow. “That's one,” someone announced behind him. Kaedric glanced over his shoulder. It was the young soldier who had spent most of their journey asking questions about dragons. “My lord, does that count as killing it?” “Would you like to go down there and check?” “No, my lord.” “Then keep your shield up.” The soldier obeyed, although Kaedric could have sworn he heard him mutter something about dragons being unnecessarily rude. Across the pass, Lord Sten stood behind his soldiers, watching the exchange with an expression of mild amusement. “I expected something more impressive,” Sten called. “They s
Chapter 140
The War Council spent forty minutes telling Kaedric his plan was dangerous. He listened to every one of them. The treasury master warned that Skarnhold could close the eastern trade roads. The senior ward-keeper explained how one broken tower might release hundreds of White Wraiths. Two border captains argued that Ashkim needed at least five hundred soldiers before challenging the city that controlled Mourning Pass. Kaedric did not disagree with any of them. “Then what do you suggest?” he asked when the room became quiet. The treasury master looked towards Vargr. Vargr refused to save him. “We pay part of the new demand,” the man said carefully. “Enough to delay them while we strengthen the eastern villages.” “What happens when they ask for the rest?” “We negotiate.” “And when they demand twenty times the Pass Share next year?” Nobody answered. Kaedric rested both hands on the table. “Skarnhold believes it owns our peace. Every time Ashkim pays after a threat, we prove th
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Liv could not complete a single movement properly. Her instructors tried not to show their frustration. They corrected her feet, her shoulders and the position of her hands. Each time they moved to the next exercise, she forgot something from the last one. “Let us take a break,” Liv said with a tired smile. The men bowed. They left so quickly that the answer hurt. Liv sat on a low stone beside the training field. Bruises covered both arms, and every breath pulled at the pain Toren had left in her ribs. She had survived him. That should have been enough to make her grateful. Instead, all she could think about was Kaedric sending her from the bathing room as though he could no longer stand her voice. He had begun this. He was the one hiding with Solveig and leaving without explanations. Yet when Liv played the same game, he acted as though she had destroyed everything between them. She
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Vargr led Kaedric into the War Council chamber. A map of Ashkim’s eastern border covered the long table. Between Ashkim and Skarnhold stood Mourning Pass, a narrow road cut through two black mountains. Thousands of White Wraiths slept beneath the snow around it. The creatures had once been living soldiers. Now they fed on heat and magic, and enough of them could pull down even the strongest fighter. Neither city had created them. Both cities had suffered because of them. More than a hundred years earlier, Ashkim and Skarnhold built seven ward towers along the pass. Ashkim supplied gold, food and stone. Skarnhold supplied the frost-chains used to keep the White Wraiths beneath the ground. The agreement also protected both cities’ traders. As long as the towers remained lit, wagons could cross the mountains without losing people to the dead beneath the snow. Ashkim’s share paid the ward-keepers, replaced broken chain links an
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Kaedric remained in the bath until the water lost its colour. The poison was gone, but it had left every muscle in his body aching. The night without sleep, the visit to his parents’ tomb and the fight with Toren had joined together inside his head. He wanted one quiet hour. He did not expect to get it. Kaedric dressed and sent for Vargr. The Lawspeaker arrived moments later. His eyes moved over the broken door, the frozen dust and the green stains eating through the floor. “I assume this is not the result of a disagreement over breakfast.” “Svartheim entered the estate.” Vargr’s humour disappeared. Kaedric explained enough for him to understand the danger. “First, place only people you trust around Liv,” Kaedric said. “I want two guards with her even during training. Nobody enters her room until every ward has been rebuilt.” “It will be done.” “Second, I
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Kaedric pushed away from the wall. He cast a ring of dark metal beneath Toren’s feet. The ring closed around the creature’s ankles and pulled them together. Toren fell forward, but two thick arms caught the floor before his face struck it. Kaedric sent fire through the metal. It travelled into Toren’s legs and burned through the veins beneath his skin. The creature screamed. The sound belonged to more than one person. “Leave his body,” Kaedric ordered. Black smoke pushed from Toren’s mouth. For one moment, the young man’s real eyes returned. “Kill me,” he begged. The smoke forced itself back inside him. His eyes turned black again. He tore one foot from the burning ring. Kaedric understood then. Svartheim had occupied Toren for too long. His bones, blood and magic had been changed to hold it. Pulling the enemy out would not save him. There was a
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