The knights rushed toward the hidden door, their steps sharp and tense.
According to Rosalie's report, Scarlett had gone to the master suite moments before the explosion. What she found instead sent her into a state of terror.
Two men, strangers cloaked in shadow, had breached the chamber. The princess was struggling in their grasp, dragged violently toward the open passage of the trap door.
Helen, who was with Anna in the chamber, and Scarlett, who had just arrived, fought back with desperate courage, screaming for help, clawing, and pulling at the men to free the princess from their grip.
In the chaos, Scarlett managed to seize one of the intruders' sleeves—Brone, the Bargesian leader—gripping his arm to stop him.
The fabric tore under her fingers, and what she saw beneath made her blood run cold. His skin was blackened and veined, pulsing with an unnatural energy, as if corruption itself coursed through him.
The hand that emerged was no longer human… It was monstrous.
