Chapter 52. Oath of the Marked

The war room emptied slowly.

One by one, council members filtered out, murmuring among themselves, their silhouettes slipping between the torches that lined the hall. Jayna disappeared into the archives without a word. Orin lingered in the corridor, pretending not to watch Aria’s every move.

Adrian didn’t speak until the door had closed behind the last of them.

“Rogues don’t write love notes,” he said.

Aria didn’t look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the placard—now wrapped in cloth and sealed in a warded box, resting on the council table like a coffin.

“It wasn’t a rogue.”

Adrian folded his arms. “You’re sure.”

“I felt it,” she said. “The scent was foul, but it wasn’t empty. It was cloaked. Wrong. Like it didn’t belong in this world.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “There are only a handful of witches capable of that kind of masking.”

“I don’t think it was a witch alone,” Aria said. “There was… intent behind the way it moved. The energy