The castle moved like a living thing that week — every corridor whispering with plans, every wall humming with purpose. The air was thick with tension, but it was not the suffocating kind; it was the fierce calm before a storm, the kind that made warriors sharpen their blades and queens steady their hearts.
The plan Heiko designed — forged between him, River, Alia, and the recovered King Paul — was now in motion. Every guard, every ward, every rune placed with surgical precision.
River could feel the weight of what was coming in her bones; the witch would not ignore their bait. But as the preparations unfolded, life inside the Nightshade Castle found small, human ways to remind them of what they were fighting for.
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King Paul had recovered faster than any healer dared hope. His stren
