Chapter 171: The Gathering Darkness

The great cathedral loomed before them, its massive stained-glass windows casting broken light against the cobblestone streets of Winter's Crown. The once-sacred building, a place of prayers and coronations, now stood as a monument to something else entirely.

Something older.

Something watching.

The shadows had gathered.

They pooled along the cathedral floor, coiling around the marble pillars like living ink, shifting with unnatural purpose. The remnants of the battle outside had faded—the creatures, the twisted guards, the assassins—none had followed them here.

Because they were already here.

At the center of it all, standing beneath the towering stained-glass window of the first king, was Varcen.

Or what remained of him.