"Where is that useless CAMILLA!"
My body went rigid. Beside me, the children stirred, their peaceful sleep disturbed by the intrusion. I pressed a hand to the closest one's back—soft, warm, still asleep.
That voice... I didn't recognize it. But something in it made my skin prickle with dread.
I slid from the bed with deliberate silence. The cold of the polished floor seeped into my bare feet, grounding me against the rising tide of my own anger. I was not a woman prone to fury, but this—this violation of the fragile peace I was building—was igniting something deep and territorial.
I cracked the door open.
Below, the scene was one of chaos.
Maids scattered, unsure what to do. Guards exchanged uncertain glances, their training useless against a social siege. And at the epicenter stood a woman I had never seen before.
