The door shut behind him with a dull thud, and silence followed, not the peaceful kind, but the heavy silence of men preparing for war.
Sasha stood at the center of the war chamber. The scent of parchment and old smoke hung in the air, curling into the stone walls like ghosts from the past. The table before him was layered in maps and scattered reports, wax seals broken, ink still fresh.
Around it, his inner circle had gathered: Roland, Daniel, Eryk, and two of his field captains who had just returned from the eastern ridges of the forest. Each wore the same look: grim, hardened, and ready. There were more people, each spread intentionally in key areas of the Kingdom.
Sasha didn't sit.
He rarely did when the stakes shifted like this.
"Report," he said, his voice even but sharp enough to cut.
Daniel was the first to speak, his dark eyes shadowed with exhaustion and suspicion. "Something's changed. The vampires aren't retreating anymore. They're waiting."
