All three turned when he entered, and their unified focus felt like standing before an execution squad.
His shadows curled around Brynn's ankles, making his position clear before he even spoke.
Seraphina didn't waste time on pleasantries.
"Finally." She kept pacing, hand on her weapon. Each step cracked his floor deeper. "Do you know what's happening, Reaper? My battle-dead aren't reaching my domain. Every soul that should come to me, warriors and murder victims, all of them vanishing at the moment of crossing."
"Mine as well." Vex's voice cracked with desperation. The Lord of Consumption stood rigidly by the windows, hands clenched. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, spreading like bruises across his skin, becoming more transparent by the hour. "The consumed souls thatfeed my realm are gone. I can feel my power weakening with every death that doesn't reach me."
His form flickered at the edges. He was fading.
"The spirits scream." Thessa drifted near the shadows, her translucent form flickering more violently than usual. Parts of her kept disappearing, an arm vanishing for seconds before reforming, her face losing definition. "They show me souls being pulled away from their destined paths. Harvested before they can even understand what's happening."
Her form solidified just long enough for her eyes to lock on his.
"Something has corrupted the flow of death."
The palace groaned around them. Foundations weakening.
Seraphina's eyes locked on him. Her hand wrapped around her weapon's hilt.
"Your realm seems remarkably intact, Reaper." Her voice dropped. She stepped forward. "Your defenses are perfect, and you're the only one strong enough to pull off something like this."
His shadows drew tighter around Brynn, several threads remaining wound through her bandages even as he stepped forward—putting himself between her and Seraphina's building aggression.
"My realm was attacked too." He moved toward the throne, letting his presence command the space. Drew their focus away from Brynn and onto him. His shadows spread across the floor, reminding them whose domain they were standing in. "My soul-flow stopped an hour ago. The Tower of Screaming Winds has gone silent. The Weeping Marshes are drying up. My ward-stones are failing one by one."
The darkness spread further, pooling around their feet like a tide. The temperature dropped as his power filled the space.
"Convenient timing." Vex's desperation made him reckless. "You discover it first, have time to prepare your story, position yourself as the victim instead of the architect?—"
"I discovered it first because I've been investigating the ward sabotage for months." His voice hardened, dropping to that tone that made even other Death Lords reconsider. "This isn't an attack. It's the culmination of a plan that's been building longer than any of us realized."
The floor cracked beneath them.
Thessa drifted closer, her form flickering with agitation.
"The spirits showed me the gateway opening." Her eyes locked on Brynn, fully solidifying with accusation. "Ward-work twisted into something new. Activated by someone with an architect bloodline."
His shadows tightened.
"Someone who's been in all our courts," Thessa continued. "Studying our defenses, learning our vulnerabilities."
Seraphina's pacing stopped. She turned to face Brynn directly.
"The human." Seraphina's voice filled with accusation. "She arrives in your court out of nowhere. You bring her to investigate all of us, learning our vulnerabilities, mapping our wards. Then Caelum makes his move, and suddenly she opens a gateway that gives him control of everything?"
Her jaw clenched.
"She's been playing us from the start. The question is whether you knew, Reaper, or if she played you too."
He felt Brynn tense beside him through the shadow-threads. Felt her guilt rising, her instinct to accept their blame.
"She was captured." His voice dropped to that lethal softness that preceded violence. "Tortured. These?—"
He gestured to her wrists, and fresh fury surged through him at the sight of blood seeping through the white fabric.
"Are from suppression cuffs designed specifically to neutralize ward-magic. To prevent her from defending herself or escaping. She watched souls being processed in extraction chambers. Saw the army he's building. Experienced firsthand what he plans for everyone who opposes him."
