Alexander
Sword in hand, I descended the mansion’s staircase with long, heavy strides. My men were already assembled below, waiting, wide‑eyed and tense, as though they could feel the storm churning in my chest.
Two days. It had only been two days since word reached me that the Kendrick estate had hosted an unexpected “visitor,” and ever since, shadows had been moving in the night. Not servants. Not travelers.
Assassins.
And all of it, every whisper and shift of danger, pointed toward Victoria.
“Is everyone gathered?” My voice echoed, low and clipped.
“They’ve moved far beyond the duchy’s outskirts, my lord,” one of the men reported.
“How far?” I tugged my gloves on, impatience spiking when silence answered me. My gaze narrowed. “What is it? Speak.”
The men exchanged uneasy looks.
