Chapter 84: Judgment Day

The Royphia Village community hall was a tinderbox waiting for a spark. Every seat was filled, and the walls were lined with those who couldn't find one. The air, thick with the scent of damp wool and simmering resentment, crackled with a nervous energy that vibrated through the floorboards. It was a court of public opinion, and the sentence had already been decided in the whispers that had poisoned the village for weeks. Gideon Warren sat near the front, a bastion of calm in the churning sea...