Kael's POV
Riven found me at the eastern barricade, his hands still shaking, blood still drying on his knuckles from the duel that had ended with his own father's death, exhaustion carved deep into every line of his face.
"Seraphine has the second key," he said, his voice hollow with exhaustion. "My father confirmed it before he died. She is bringing a full contingent tonight. This is not a raid anymore. It is an invasion."
My stomach dropped straight through the floor, everything in me going cold at once. "How many?"
"Enough to overwhelm what is left of our defenses." He would not meet my eyes, staring instead at the smoke still rising from the wreckage behind us, his voice thick with something close to guilt. "I am sorry, Kael. I know what she is to you."
She was my aunt. The woman
