Heavy iron boots hammered against the thick oak doors of the royal bedchamber, sending vibrations rattling through the stone threshold.
"Break down the hinges!" Elder Morzan’s screech rose over the clatter of steel outside. "The outcast Omega has poisoned the King! Seize the traitor before she finishes her dark deed!"
Inside the locked chamber, the air smelled of burning lavender, copper, and the sickening, sweet stench of rotting venom.
Beta Vance stood rooted before the bolted door, his legs planted wide on the fur rug. He wore his heavy-boiled leather brigandine strapped over his sweat-stained gray shirt, both hands white-knuckled around the hilt of his unsheathed short-blade. His scarred face remained as cold and hard as granite, his gray eyes fixed on the shuddering wood. He did no
