Damien's POV
I killed him with my bare hands, in the narrow service corridor two doors from Lena's rooms, and I did not fully register what I had done until it was already finished.
He had come through the eastern wall in a section Rourke's perimeter watch had not covered closely enough, moving with the specific, practiced quiet of someone who had studied Stormridge's patrol patterns for weeks before choosing his moment. He was armed with a blade coated in something I did not stop to identify. He was not interested in reaching the household staff, or the council chambers, or anything that represented Stormridge's power in the abstract.
He was moving toward Lena's rooms with the direct, unhesitating purpose of a man who had been given a single task and intended to complete it regardless
