⚔️ **CHAPTER 23 — A Companion of Blood and Shadow**
The village faded behind them as the road climbed again, narrow and winding. Mist clung low, curling around Kael's boots like cautious fingers. The first whispers of consequence from the village still lingered in the air—faint tremors of unease that seemed almost sentient.
Kael walked in silence, though his thoughts were loud. *Every place I touch, the world shifts…*
*Yes,* the second voice murmured. *And it will get louder.*
A figure stepped from the mist ahead. Not a shadow, not a threat, but deliberate. The man's boots crunched on the road, echoing faintly, and Kael immediately recognized something about him—not by sight, but by presence.
He was *royal.*
Not just in training or bloodline, but in how the world seemed to yield around him, ever so slightly. He moved with a quiet certainty, cloak brushing the ground, sword sheathed but resting lightly against his hip.
"You're Kael Ardyn," the man said, voice calm, even, almost melodic. "And I've been looking for you."
Kael froze. "Who are you?"
"Name's **Caelin Vorcrest**," the man said, offering no other introduction. "Second son of House Vorcrest. If you're wondering, yes… that matters. More than you probably want it to right now."
Kael studied him. The way he held himself, the subtle grace in every movement—it was impossible to ignore. And yet… there was a weight there, an unspoken burden.
"You're… tracking me?" Kael asked cautiously.
Caelin shook his head. "Not exactly. I'm following the currents you leave behind. The… disturbances. Let's just say the Crownlands have noticed someone walking differently."
Kael's lips pressed into a thin line. "You mean the Council?"
"Not only the Council," Caelin said slowly. "The land itself. The old debts, the quiet things that aren't meant to be disturbed. You've stirred more than you know."
*He senses it too,* the second voice said. *And he won't be easy to reason with.*
Kael's hand instinctively went to his sword, but he didn't draw it. Caelin didn't either. Instead, the prince moved closer, maintaining perfect calm, like a tide creeping toward shore—steady, inevitable.
"You're lucky I found you now," Caelin continued. "By tomorrow, those consequences from the village will grow. You need someone who can keep pace."
"I don't need company," Kael muttered. "I'm not… built for that."
Caelin smiled faintly, almost pitying but not cruel. "Neither was I. And yet here we are. Two exiles, one walking too close to what the world didn't intend."
Kael considered him. *Exile, royal blood, calm enough to walk beside the storm…* Somehow it fit. Somehow it made sense that the world had sent someone like this.
"You keep pace," Kael said finally. "Or we both die."
"Then we keep pace," Caelin said simply. "And maybe, if we're careful, we'll learn whose debt comes due first."
They walked together, the mist swallowing them slowly.
Neither spoke for the first hour. The road curled ahead, leading downward into low valleys where the shadows had begun to gather again—quiet, patient, waiting.
Kael felt the second presence stir uneasily inside him.
*This one… he will change things.*
*He already has,* Kael murmured.
And for the first time since the exile began, Kael didn't feel entirely alone.
But the land… and the debts it claimed… were still watching.
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