Chapter 132 Interlude Ten

Chapter 132 Interlude Ten
Interlude Ten

Even with the mask over his face, she knew it was him. It took the guards a minute to recognize him, but it took her mere seconds. It came as a slight jolt of disappointment that he already knew how poisoned the air here was, and she didn’t, but that’s not important right now.

No. This was bad.

She had been lying to him and keeping things from him all this while. He can’t be happy about that.
The king was still wearing his traveling cloak, dark hair slightly disheveled as though he had ridden hard through the night to reach the city.

His gaze moved immediately to Isolde.

“Are you hurt?” he asked in an unsurprisingly edged tone.

“I am fine,” she said without missing a beat. Despite himself, the king’s shoulders relaxed slightly. He slipped off his mask and gently placed it over his wife’s face, to protect her from the blighted air. Then his eyes shifted from his queen and landed on the foreigner.

Something in his expression changed. A subtle tightening around the eyes.

“What are you doing here…?” the king started, but was interrupted by Isolde.

“You arrived quickly,” she said, then turned slightly on her heels. “I was informed there was trouble.”

His gaze flicked briefly between the two of them before returning to the marks carved into the stone.

“So I see.”

Before anyone could speak again, a scream cut through the night outside, and everyone froze.
Another shout followed.

“Something’s on the rooftops!”

A bald-headed soldier shouted. Instinctively, everyone looked up as if something might burst in, while the other soldiers rushed toward the tower entrance with their weapons.

After a few moments, Haden and Isolde followed immediately, emerging into the even colder, toxic air, resisting the futile attempts of the personnel trying to keep them in.

Torches flickered wildly as guards pointed toward the rooftops above the narrow streets. Everyone strained to see, but for a few seconds there was no movement.
Until something massive crossed the skyline.

A shadow.

The sound of claws scraped across stone as the creature leapt between buildings, its shape briefly outlined against the moonlit sky.

Gasps rippled through the soldiers.

“What in the gods’ name was that?” someone whispered.

The shadow vanished as quickly as it had appeared, disappearing into the dark maze of the city beyond.
Isolde’s heart pounded rapidly, and she was suddenly worried something might happen to the child she was carrying with how overwhelmed she felt.

Haden’s gaze slowly moved across the pathway toward the foreigner.

The man stood perfectly still, watching the direction where the creature had disappeared.

Not looking the least bit afraid, or even pretending to be as shocked as they all were.

It was almost as though he were observing something he already understood. That smugness, that quiet intrigue, made Haden furious for reasons he could not quite name.

The king studied him carefully as a captain barked out loud orders.

“You stay and protect the king and queen. Escort them safely back to the palace,” the man instructed loudly, then gestured to the other men. “You come with me.”

They all echoed a response to his command, but the king was still watching the strange man.

There were dangers in the city tonight.
That much was clear.

But as he watched the stranger standing beside his queen, a quiet thought settled in the back of his mind.
Perhaps the greatest danger had already walked willingly through his gates.

And the unsettling part was not the stranger’s presence alone. It was the way Isolde did not seem afraid of him. Not properly afraid, as though she had already adjusted to his presence. She trusts him.

Finally, just as the soldier gestured for them to be escorted back, Haden turned sharply and walked up to the foreigner instead.

“You,” he said, his voice firm. “What is your name?”
He needed something. Anything. A place to begin. A thread to pull. The toxic air between them seemed to crackle with blinding tension.

“Haden,” the queen started quietly, but the king ignored her. She acted as if it were unreasonable to want to know the name of a guest they had entertained for days, when the only truly eccentric thing was not knowing it from the beginning.

The foreigner held the king’s gaze. He did not look rushed or cornered like Haden hoped. Instead, he looked like a man who had been waiting for this exact question, at this exact moment, for a very long time.

Just then, something dark passed through his eyes that made Haden take an involuntary step back.

Then a smile curved the corner of his lips.
He shifted his attention briefly to the queen, who seemed just as interested in hearing what he had to say as her husband.

But he knew there was no need to lie. His plan was already in motion. He would get what he wanted, and there was nothing they could do to stop it now.
So he let out a soft sigh and said,

“You may call me Anzel, Your Highness.”

For reasons none of them could yet understand, it felt less like an introduction… and more like confirmation.
And for the briefest moment, something almost like amusement crossed his unnaturally perfect face.