[Intro]
[Verse 1]
They say the third-born son inherits nothing
So I inherited the room itself
I learned to speak in silences and favors
Built coalitions from the highest shelf
The clergy bowed, the merchants pledged their silver
The noble houses folded one by one
Three years from minor count to sovereign crown
Before the sickness told me I was done
[Chorus]
I am the cold that lingers in the throne room
The voice that echoes after breath has ceased
You cannot kill what slipped beyond the living
You cannot dethrone what death has not released
My kingdom bends to no man's mortal grievance
My rule persists beyond the final door
I was a king before they stopped my heartbeat
Now I am something more
[Verse 2]
My friend drove mercy through my ribs like kindness
She thought the blade would set my suffering free
But when the body crumpled on the marble
I stood above it, staring back at me
The Custodi knelt before my spectral figure
Their puppet king now pulled on different strings
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
Marchesa sent an assassin through the veil
A woman who could cut what blades cannot
She walked between the living and the dead
And found the thread that held my final knot
But crowns don't die the way that kings do
Paliano still whispers in my name
[Outro]
I ruled in flesh and ruled in spirit after
And even gone the halls remember me
The throne sits empty but the cold remains
Eternal
