Page 58 of Blood Marked

Boots thundered seconds later.

Three soldiers burst into the room, followed by one of Nyra’s spies.

Kael didn’t stand. Didn’t move from her. He barked orders from the floor, voice cold and laced with command.

“Lock this wing down. Nobody in or out. I want a trail on every goddamn window, door, and rat hole. Find out how they got through the wards—now.”

One guard hesitated.

Kael bared his teeth. “Do youneedan escort to your job, or do I strip your colors myself?”

The man bolted.

Kael shifted Selene in his arms, rising to his feet. She groaned softly but didn’t protest.

“She needs a healer,” one soldier muttered.

“No,” Kael snapped. “She needsNyra.”

As if summoned, Nyra appeared in the hall like a shadow loosed from its tether. Her eyes landed on Selene and narrowed.

“What the fuck happened?”

Kael handed Selene into her arms only because she was the only other person on the mountain he trusted to carry her.

“Get her somewhere safe. Off the grid. I want your best trackers watching her door.”

Nyra nodded, surprisingly gentle as she wrapped Selene in a cloak. “And you?”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “I’m going to Father.”

He didn’t change. Didn’t wash the blood from his hands or the soot from his skin. Let Ruarc see the wreckage. Let himsmellthe magic that still clung to Kael’s clothes like a storm not quite done.

The guards at the High Chamber doors barely moved as he shoved them open.

Ruarc stood by the fire, dressed in black, eyes sharp with expectation. Always composed. Always waiting for a son who would never measure up to the throne already cut for him.

“Another attack,” Kael said without ceremony. “Onher.”

Ruarc turned. “I heard.”

“And?”

“And I take it she lived,” he said smoothly. “So the wards failed. As I warned they might. The castle is full of holes we inherited, Kael. This changes nothing.”

Kael’s voice turned to steel. “It changeseverything.”

His father raised a brow.

Kael stepped forward, every inch the future Alpha now.

“They were sent tokill her.Not delay her. Not frighten her.Kill.Inside our walls. Again. On the eve of a summit. During a political union that half this court already whispers against.”

Ruarc’s expression didn’t shift.

Kael stepped closer. “We stall the ceremony. We dig. We root out whoever let them in. Varyn or someone else. Wefinish thisbefore we put her back on a stage and dare fate to aim again.”

Ruarc poured himself a drink.

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