The hall outside the Grand Duke's chamber had become a battlefield; it was bloody and chaotic. Anton and his children fought the remaining assassins, their claws flashing under the torchlight, but the assassins moved faster, answering blood with silent, calculated strikes.
The moment Wyndham knights arrived, the corridor erupted into a storm of clashing steel, howls, and curses. The air reeked of blood and burning oil as blades cut through fur and flesh alike.
Inside the bedchamber, however, the true danger waited. Roxanne stood between the bed, where Vivianne lay, hidden beneath thick furs and a veil of Undine's protective magic, and the group of assassins who came from above and the balcony. Her crimson eyes burnt like twin flames as she assessed them in an instant.
