Chapter Seventy Two

Lucian's Pov 

By the time the alarm rang out—sharp and urgent like a blade being drawn across iron—the rogues were already deep within the fortress. I could hear them. The growls, the snarls, the tearing of claws against stone, wood, flesh. Too late. Far too late.

They were already storming the main building.

The corridors echoed with the clash of metal and the cries of my wolves. My aides flanked me, weapons drawn, eyes alert. I didn't have time to process the betrayal that let this happen—the explosion, Malvin's disappearance, his riddles still fresh in my mind. We cut through the intruders without hesitation, clearing the entrance with measured violence as we moved outside into the open courtyard, the night sky above us smeared with smoke and blood.

The fighting was worse there.