I left the Blackspire stronghold with tears falling freely, my chest tight with betrayal.
I climbed into my carriage and drove without direction, not caring where the road led. I only needed distance. Distance from him and from everything.
The path blurred as my tears would not stop. My mind replayed every word I had heard.
At last, I found myself at the sacred burial grounds. The place I had avoided because the pain was too heavy. My hands trembled as I stepped onto the cold earth.
Sven’s grave rested at the far edge, beneath a lone silver tree. I fell to my knees, my fingers brushing over the name carved into stone.
Sven Blackspire
Beloved Son. Forever under the Moon.
A broken sob left my lips as memories crashed over me. The night Razen returned, covered in blood, his face filled with false grief.
“He was taken by rogue wolves,” he had said, voice shaking. “It happened too fast. I couldn’t save him.”
I had screamed and collapsed, my world shattering in an instant. When I woke, Sven was already buried. Razen told me it was done quickly, to spare me from seeing my son lifeless.
But now I knew. It was never mercy. He buried Sven to hide his sin.