The pain vanishes from his face almost instantly. He slumps forward, hands braced against the ground, chest heaving.
Across from him, Lady Celestia stumbles back like she’s been gutted. Her eyes go wide, one hand clawing at her chest as if she’s trying to hold herself together—or stop something from slipping out.
For a second—just a second—she looks… broken. All the arrogance and venom she wore like a crown has been stripped away. She no longer looks like royalty. No longer powerful. No longer the predator she always pretended to be.
Just a girl who lost everything.
She lost him.
The crowd is dead silent, but not for long.
Suddenly, the man with the walking stick takes a single step forward, slow and calculating, like a predator that enjoys the chase more than the kill. And for some
