While their shadows were busy acting as a lethal, invisible guard for Mayari and the children, Eryx and Theon were out in the streets of the capital, reminding the realm exactly why they occupied the throne. This wasn't a tactical retreat or some desperate defensive maneuver. This was a systematic extermination. They didn't call for the royal guard, and they didn't ask their loyal generals to mobilize the legions. They simply stepped out into the chaotic, rebellion-choked night alone, two figures of dark legend moving against a tide of thousands who had mistaken their silence for weakness.
The rebellion had thought they were being clever. They had timed their strike for the exact moment the supposedly "weakened" Kings were distracted by their new mate. They had gathered in the thousands,
