POV: Alex
The palace shifted into full lockdown within minutes.
Steel gates groaned into place. Rune-etched barriers flared to life along every corridor. Guards took their positions in perfect, silent synchronization. From the high eastern balcony, I watched the entire inner court seal itself like a living fortress.
Too fast.
Too quiet.
Which meant everyone felt it—whatever had touched the wards hadn’t just brushed Riley. It had unsettled the entire magical grid protecting the palace.
“Elara is in the sanctum,” a guard informed me. “King David is on his way.”
“I’m going to the nursery,” I said.
The guard hesitated. “Orders were—”
“I am the Queen,” I snapped softly. “And that is my son.”
He stepped aside immediately.
The air changed as I crossed into the eastern wing. The tempera
