Chapter 28 · Sable's Second Directive

The chamber beneath the Council Tower breathed.

Not metaphorically. The black walls flexed inward and outward, drawing air through seams that had not existed a moment before. Each breath carried the stink of hot metal, wet stone, and something sweet rotting beneath the floor.

Kellan stood at the edge of the opened shaft with one hand pressed against his skull. Red static crawled across his vision. Through the Crown Directive, he could feel every warframe on the continent waiting for his next command. Thousands of dormant minds. Thousands of armored bodies. One nervous system forced to carry them all.

His knees buckled.

Brom caught him under the arm. "Easy. Don't fall into the nightmare hole."

"Let go."

"You can barely stand."

"I said let go."

Brom's jaw tightened, but he released him. Kellan caught himself against the tower's inner wall. The stone was warm beneath his palm. Something pulsed far below, slow and patient, like a heart buried under a mountain.

Sable stood three steps away.

She had not moved since the shaft opened. Her face looked bloodless in the blue light rising from below, but her eyes remained fixed on Kellan. No fear of the tower.