The heavy clanking of metal armour echoed across the quiet roof as Daniel Nomrad stepped forward.
Moving past his son, he positioned himself directly between Axel and the terrified mother and son. Daniel placed a firm, heavy hand on Axel's shoulder and spoke in an unyielding voice. "I promised Allen that his son would not be harmed, and I intend to keep my word."
He looked down at the boy on the stone floor, his expression cold and resolute. "You will not harm Ken Dusker."
Ken's desperate, bloodshot eyes flickered with intense disbelief as he stared at the broad back of the silver-armoured man standing before him. Daniel Nomrad was one of the people Ken had hated most in his entire life.
That deep hatred had been carefully nurtured by the bitter words of his mother, who had always painted the righteous nature of the Nomrad patriarch as a pathetic facade hiding a fundamental weakness of character.
