Kaelira didn’t wait for the sun to rise.
The moment Ronan’s empty room was discovered, she mounted her horse and rode out of the palace gates.
Behind her, the Blood Guard, Lucien, Darian, and a company of elite warriors followed without question.
No one tried to stop her.
Everyone knew what Ronan’s disappearance meant.
If the Puppet Master had taken him…
Every minute mattered.
Kaelira gripped the reins so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“Hold on,” she whispered into the cold morning wind.
“I’m coming.”
The search stretched across forests, rivers, and abandoned villages.
Ronan had left almost no trail.
It was as though he had vanished into thin air.
Lucien dismounted beside a narrow stream and crouched near the muddy bank.
“There.”
Kaelira hurried over.
A single footprint
