Chapter 42 - A Viper in the Nest

Gabriel

The next morning, the ballroom's grandeur felt muted - like a once-vibrant tapestry faded by the erosion of countless dooming summers. I paced its empty length, leaving scorched impressions where my boots struck the polished marble.

Images flickered behind my eyes. The shifter's blasphemous forms convulsing in agonized rebirth. Mocking laughter grating like an insult to all orders. And through it all, those voices promising dread revelation soon to be unleashed.

A growl built in my throat as the implications solidified like creeping tendrils of ice. That parasitic presence had seeded itself deeper than I could've imagined...infesting my inner circle through countless, incalculable deceptions awaiting the signal to unmake everything from within.

I whirled at the sound of the ballroom doors creaking open. Talon slipped inside, moving with an uncharacteristic quiet that set my hackles rising. Even before I beheld his stormy expression, the air thickened with unspoken portent.

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