Aelyra did not wait for Strax to arrive.
Perhaps because of pride.
Perhaps because of desperation.
Perhaps because, deep down, she understood that if she remained standing before that window for a few more seconds, staring at the black dragon advancing over her castle like a living night, something inside her would simply break. The Monarch of Stormy Tides had been humiliated before, crushed before nobles, guards, and monarchs, but this was different. That sight was not a political defeat. It was the physical announcement of a personal extinction.
So she attacked.
