POV: KAEL
The moment Elara's eyes opened, the grief that had been crushing my chest transformed into something else entirely.
Cold, calculated fury.
She was alive. That miracle was enough to make me weep with relief. But the fact that someone had tried to take her from me—had come within moments of succeeding—ignited a rage I'd spent eight hundred years learning to control.
I'd been a merciful king. A just one, or so I'd tried to be.
Not anymore.
"Lockdown," I commanded, my voice cutting through the chaos in the hall. "Full lockdown. No one enters or leaves this palace until we find every single assassin. Anyone who resists is to be considered complicit."
Theron was already moving, his fae heritage making him the perfect hunter. His senses could track bloodlines, detect lies, sense intent in ways even dragons couldn't match.
"How many were there?" he asked, his usual casual demeanor replaced by lethal focus.
