"Seize him," Garrick's voice cut through the clearing with sudden, commanding authority, arriving late to the scene with a fresh contingent of guards, his expression carrying carefully performed horror at the violence surrounding them.
"On what grounds?" Elena demanded, rising from Logan's side despite her obvious reluctance to leave him even briefly.
"The grounds are plain before every witness present," Garrick said, gesturing toward Logan's poisoned wound. "Lustblood venom, discovered in the very blade meant to kill our future king, and Lord Adrian conveniently absent from the main procession during the critical moments before this attack began."
"I was scouting for exactly this danger," Adrian said, his voice carrying genuine desperation now as the gathered nobles' suspicion continue
