This Chapter Contains Violence.
The city streets were quiet as Daphne's carriage rolled out of the palace gates.
Too quiet.
It came a moment later.
Men burst from the alleyways, twelve of them, masked.
Blades flashing in the torchlight. The carriage jolted to a halt almost immediately.
Seraphina was already on her feet, sword drawn, fury blazing in her eyes. "Stay inside, Madam."
Daphne's hand slipped to the slender sword hidden at her side.
She did not draw it, not yet.
She would wait. Whoever dared open that carriage door would find she was not the helpless woman they expected.
But they never reached her.
From the rooftops, the shadows themselves seemed to come alive. Men clad in black, silent, swift, merciless, descended upon the attackers.
Knives flashed, throats opened, bodies fell. Seraphina cut down two herself.
Within minutes, it was over.
Twelve masked men lay on the ground, lifeless, blood seeping into the cracks of the street.
