Arkanos' eyes darkened, their green hue dimming, flickering like coals in a dying hearth.
"A curse?" he repeated, his voice sharpened with disbelief.
"Do not speak to me in riddles, Isode. What curse could bind an empire such as Threshia, strong in faith and guarded by gods themselves?"
Isode's grip on his wrists tightened as though she feared his question more than his anger. She lowered her gaze, her purple hair falling like a veil between them. "It was not a plague, nor famine, nor the blades of foreign armies. It was… a dawn. An endless dawn."
The words struck Arkanos harder than any blade could. He froze, searching her face for any sign of falsehood, but her trembling lips and shrouded eyes revealed only terror.
