The torches along the hallway flickered as Mirror stood outside the grand doors of Myreiya's chamber.
His knuckles hovered above the wood—but he didn't knock.
Inside, he could hear her voice. Calm. Resolute. Giving orders to her handmaidens and captains. She was strong again today.
But he had seen her panic in the dark.
He had seen her vulnerability.
And now he held a secret that could shatter the fragile trust forming between them.
"Lord Velyr is plotting your downfall. He serves the Abyss."
The words burned in his throat.
If he told her, she might act rashly. She might be manipulated into a war too soon. She might not even believe him. After all, he was still just a foreign slave in her court. One she barely trusted.
But if he stayed silent...
Kael'theron would fall.
And he would have failed the one person he didn't intend to care for.
Mirror stepped back into the shadows, torn between truth and strategy.
Inside her chamber, Myreiya paused for a second. Her eyes narrowed.
"He was just here," she murmured, sensing something. "Why didn't he come in?"
That night, Mirror stood alone on the palace walls, watching the stars blink over a restless empire.
"If I tell her… everything changes."
"If I don't… she may die."
The wind offered no answers.
Only the silence of the sky.