Novel excerpts

The sea is cold, biting at your fingers as the wind whips across the deck of the ship. Aldebryn fades behind you, its stone walls shrinking into the morning mist, and ahead lies the route to Moravice: Continue Reading →

Dawn seeps into the ruins of Moravice like a ghost reluctant to touch the living. You stay. You do not mount your horse. Continue Reading →

The road north stretches like a wound through the land. Each hoofbeat is a memory — the sound of home reduced to echo. Continue Reading →

Winter descended upon Aldebryn like a slow and heavy tide. The sea darkened to slate, and the wind that once smelled of salt and freedom now carried the sharp sting of uncertainty. Continue Reading →

The decision is made before dawn.

You stand at the window of your chamber in Aldebryn, the sea below still cloaked in mist. The gulls cry above the gray waves, restless and hungry. Behind you, Margaret stirs, her voice soft but steady. Continue Reading →

The road to Moravice begins long before the first trace of the city appears on the horizon. It begins in the hollow of your chest, in the aching space Margaret’s absence has left behind. Continue Reading →

Her voice trembles with hope as she says your name again — a whisper pulled thin by fear and yearning. “Please,” she breathes. “Choose me.” Continue Reading →

The docks of Aldebryn greeted you with the smell of salt, fish, and smoke. After weeks at sea, the city rose before you like a promise carved in stone and wind. Continue Reading →

You found her at dusk, where the caravan road narrowed into a fold of dunes. Margaret stood with the letter clenched in one hand, the other to her breast. Continue Reading →

The hall falls silent after Claudius’s words. Moravice has fallen.
The horns fade, the crowd’s murmur dims, and you stand alone beneath the weight of history. Continue Reading →