Kael didn’t sleep.
Not once.
The map was already spread across the war table when dawn broke.
Markers.
Routes.
Territory lines.
But his focus wasn’t geography anymore.
It was movement.
Predicting patterns.
Reconstructing intention.
“What do we know?” Riven asked quietly.
Kael didn’t look up.
“Too clean,” he said.
A pause.
“They didn’t just take her.”
His finger traced a faint line across the map.
“They moved her like they already knew the palace schedule.”
Silence followed.
Riven’s expression tightened slightly.
“That means inside access.”
Kael finally looked at him.
“Yes.”
Just one word.
Heavy.
Certain.
And dangerous.
Elsewhere in the palace corridors
the investigation had already begun.
Guards questioned.
Routes reviewed.
Patrol logs pulled apart.
And slowl
