Arielle's POV
The message came at midnight.
Kael brought it. He knocked on the door of the library — where Lucien and I still were, had been for four hours, the research into the Architect consuming the evening — and came in with the expression he wore when something had gone wrong in a way that required immediate recalibration.
"Seraphina," he said.
I set down my text.
"She's gone," Kael said. "Silvercrest custody. Three of her father's loyalists organized it. They took out two guards — non-fatally — and walked her out through the eastern supply route."
Lucien's jaw tightened. "When?"
"Six hours ago. Kieran's messenger arrived twenty minutes back."
Six hours. She had a significant lead and had known the Silvercrest layout well enough to plan an exit route that their guards had not
