Third POV
The last traces of Reina’s heat had only just left the walls of the royal clinic when Julian was summoned. The message came not from a servant but from the royal guard commander himself, which meant there was no room to refuse. The words were short: “The King requests your presence in his office. At once.”
Julian folded the parchment with steady hands, but inside his chest, his heart knocked hard against his ribs. He knew what this meant. King Cassius never summoned anyone twice. If he wanted you, it was either to honor you—or to destroy you.
Julian cleaned the blood still faint on his knuckles, he sustained another injury while Reina was in heat, still at that same spot he had been injured by the guards, remnants of the fight days ago when the guards had dragged him and beate
