Seconds later,

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The moment Aria’s hand settled in Malphas’s, the crimson light flared brighter, and the terrible weight that had hung over the hall shifted - not lessening, but reshaping, turning from crushing authority into something warm, ancient, and unbreakable. For a heartbeat, no one moved, no one breathed, no one dared break the stillness that held them all in thrall.

Then Malphas stepped back, just enough to stand fully before her, and the entire hall flinched as one. Because the High King - the Demon King, the most feared and powerful being alive, the man who had bowed to no one for a thousand years - slowly, deliberately,...