I stood frozen in the empty garden for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.
My children were gone. My husband was gone. Taken by someone I'd never even heard of until moments ago.
"Your Majesty!" Theron ran into the garden, looking panicked. "We heard shouting. What happened? Where's Kael? Where are the children?"
"Gone. All of them. Someone calling herself the Architect's Successor took them." My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "She said she's been planning this for years. That she's studying the shadow curse. That she's going to use Kael and Arianna for experiments."
"Gods above. How? How did she get past all our security?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything except that I trusted the wrong person again and now my family is paying for it."
