The meeting was in full force now. The council members would arrive in exactly five days with their demands. The same demands Thorne had turned down for the past ten years. This time, however, it was different. They weren't coming just to demand the same old things. No. They were coming prepared, and Thorne had to be ready.
A map of the kingdom was sprawled across the center table, markers denoting trade routes, troop posts.
Thorne's brows was furrowed in deep concentration, jaw clenched tight as he listened to each of Mason's words.
Suddenly, he felt it.
A searing pain split through his chest, so sudden and sharp that he gasped.
The quill snapped in his hand. His vision blurred as the pain deepened, no, it burned. Pulling at something deep inside his ribcage. His heart stuttered, and he grabbed at his chest, staggering back from the desk.
"Your Majesty?" Caelum was on his feet in an instant.
"Thorne—?" Elara rushed out.
