The bells continued to echo throughout Arven Manor, announcing an inevitable execution.
The metallic sound rippled through the corridors, halls, and stairways of the entire property while, above them, footsteps began to emerge from multiple directions simultaneously. Organized patrols were no longer distinguishable. Now there was only frantic movement. Orders shouted. Doors being violently opened. The growing noise of a fortress entering a state of absolute alert.
And it had all happened too fast.
Damon still held his sword embedded in the fallen guard's chest when he realized this with brutal clarity. They had lost the silent advantage before even reaching the main wing. The infiltration had ended the instant those creatures found them in the archive corridor.
Or perhaps…
Perhaps it had ended long before that.
