The Long Frost

"I wouldn't joke about something like this."

The words hadn't fully landed before Elara's grip tightened on his arm, urgency cutting straight through the exhaustion in her voice.

Even half-broken from three months in the dark, something fierce was already surfacing behind her eyes the first real flicker of the queen she was supposed to become.

"My lord, whoever's wearing my face in that city is planning something. I need to reach my father now, tonight, before whatever this is goes any further."

"I hear you." Kael kept his voice level, steady, the kind of calm meant to anchor someone standing on the edge of panic.

"But charging into a royal palace on nothing but a rescued girl's word gets us nowhere.

Worse it gets us both arrested before anyone even hears the accusation." He crouched slightly, meeting her eyes.