E MCCA

our heavy black carriage j

way to rough, unforgiving dirt roads, and the crisp autum

tly around her shoulders. Seeing me resting near the chilly carriage window, s

embling slightly from the draft. "The cold in the N

soothing, quiet smile. "I am fine

itual power I had refined over a lifetime as Master Vesta had transformed my body's resilience. My vit

trek, I kept my eyes clos

e vast, divine medical mastery of my previous life wit

condary records stored in a book-they were my lived experience, my instinct, and my power. Every incision I had ev

d the lethal ailment consuming Hol

aggressive necrotic agent that continuously devoured a Vorrath lord's core power and corru

s continent, it was an i

erously clear. It was a dual-layered toxicity: a physical necrotic

ly in my mind. First, suppress the necrotic spread; second, purge t

en as a sudden rea

ter-agent required to freeze the spread of Dragonblood Poison was Frost-marrow Root-a lege

the natural growing ground for

" Phoebe's hushed voice

the heavy velvet curt

midable fortress carved entirely from jagged black stone-Carli

from the battlements, and no warm torchlight welcomed us. It l

," I murmured under my breath, a spark

e easier it would be for me to hide my true capabiliti

the massive iron gates, which groaned

at the bottom of the grand stone staircase was an elderly, severe-l

Instead, they weighed me with a numb, cold scrutiny, expecting

and smoothed the subtle f

e was beginning the moment m

stepped out of the carri

d my ruthless determination to reshape

iced stiffness. "Welcome to Carlisle Manor, Lady Kristie. I am

I interrupted, my tone icy, quiet

h an authoritative aura tha

to the Ar