The words struck the room like thunder.
"She escaped?" Master Thorne's voice turned dangerously quiet.
The guard swallowed hard. "No one understands how. The dungeon guards were found unconscious. Two are dead."
Seraphina's eyes hardened instantly.
Dead guards.
No broken chains.
No forced doors.
This was not an escape.
It was assistance.
"Seal the palace gates," she ordered immediately. "No one enters or leaves without my command."
The guard bowed quickly and rushed away.
The moment the library doors shut, silence returned.
But it was no longer the silence of uncertainty.
It was the silence before war.
Master Thorne moved toward the window overlooking the palace courtyard below. Soldiers carrying lanterns were already flooding across the grounds while alarm bells echoed through the stormy night.
"She had help," he said grimly.
"Yes."
Seraphina's thoughts moved rapidly now.
Eveline had known too much.
About the throne.
About her father.
About secrets buried inside the royal bloodline.
And now someone powerful enough to infiltrate the royal dungeon had removed her before she could reveal more.
Or silence her permanently.
"Bring me the prison captain," Seraphina ordered.
"He's already been summoned."
But something else troubled her.
Something worse.
She turned slowly toward Thorne.
"When Eveline attacked me… she wasn't afraid."
The strategist remained silent.
"She acted like someone who believed time was running out," Seraphina continued softly. "Not someone desperate to survive."
Thunder shook the palace walls.
Then suddenly—
A realization struck her.
"The letters."
Thorne frowned slightly. "What about them?"
"Eveline knew we discovered the correspondence too easily."
His expression darkened instantly.
"She wanted us to find them."
The truth settled heavily between them.
The treason.
The public confrontation.
The assassination attempt.
Every piece had happened too perfectly.
Like steps inside a larger plan.
Seraphina's stomach tightened.
"We were distracted," she whispered.
"Distracted from what?"
Before she could answer—
A second crash echoed through the palace.
Closer this time.
Then came screams.
Not political screams.
Not arguments.
Terror.
Real terror.
Thorne immediately drew his sword.
Seraphina grabbed the ceremonial blade hanging beside the late king's fireplace without hesitation.
The queen's sapphire robes swept across the floor as she strode toward the doors.
"Your Majesty—" Thorne warned.
"I will not hide while my palace burns."
She pushed the doors open.
The corridor beyond was chaos.
Servants fled through the halls in panic.
Royal guards sprinted toward the eastern wing.
Smoke curled along the ceiling.
And somewhere deeper inside the palace—
Something roared.
Seraphina froze for half a second.
That was not human.
The sound came again.
Low.
Violent.
Monstrous.
Several guards rushed past them carrying spears.
One stopped abruptly upon seeing the queen.
"Your Majesty, you must evacuate immediately!"
"What happened?"
The guard looked shaken. "Something attacked the eastern guard post."
"Something?"
"We don't know what it is!"
Another scream echoed through the corridor.
Then suddenly—
A soldier slammed violently against the far wall.
His body crumpled lifelessly onto the marble floor.
Blood spread beneath him instantly.
The entire corridor went still.
Then the shadows moved.
A massive figure emerged slowly from the smoke.
At first glance it looked human.
But only at first glance.
Its limbs bent unnaturally.
Dark veins pulsed beneath gray skin.
Its eyes glowed faintly gold beneath the flickering torchlight.
And its mouth—
Dear heavens.
Its jaw stretched far wider than humanly possible, revealing rows of jagged teeth stained with blood.
One servant collapsed screaming.
The creature tilted its head sharply toward the sound.
Then smiled.
Several guards attacked instantly.
Steel clashed against flesh—
But the monster moved impossibly fast.
One guard's throat was torn open before he could even scream.
Another was hurled across the corridor like a rag doll.
Panic exploded.
"Protect the queen!"
Thorne stepped in front of Seraphina immediately.
But she could not look away from the creature.
Because beneath the horror—
She noticed something impossible.
The royal crest burned into its shoulder.
A mark only palace soldiers carried.
This thing…
had once been human.
The creature suddenly turned its glowing eyes toward her.
And froze.
For one strange moment, everything stopped.
The monster stared directly at Seraphina.
Almost as though it recognized her.
Then it whispered.
One word.
"Run."
The voice sounded broken.
Painfully human.
And before anyone could react—
An arrow shot from somewhere above.
Straight through the creature's skull.
The monster collapsed instantly.
Dead silence followed.
Seraphina looked upward sharply.
A dark figure stood atop the balcony railings high above the corridor, cloaked entirely in black.
Rain blew inward through the open palace windows behind them.
The stranger lowered a crossbow slowly.
And spoke with chilling calm.
"The queen is already too late."
Then the figure vanished into the darkness.