“You already know,” she said, not looking up. Her voice was calm, like his. “The tilism calls to me, Father. I can feel it beneath the fort. It’s not a labyrinth. It’s a cage. For something they put inside our bloodline.”
“There is another way,” he said, his voice low, almost a whisper. “I abdicate. I open the treasury, pay the sorcerers’ ransom, and we flee. Become merchants in a land without magic. You’ll hate me. But you’ll live.” irrfan khan chandrakanta
He went to Chandrakanta’s chambers. She was not asleep. She was sitting by a candle, a mantra book open on her lap, a faint blue glow emanating from her fingertips. “You already know,” she said, not looking up
The council panicked. Send the army. Summon allies. Burn the forests. I can feel it beneath the fort
The court gasped. The dagger was cursed. It showed the wielder the true cost of every magical act.