"Guards!"

Rhydian’s roar shook the very foundations of the East Wing, rattling the glass in the high arched windows and sending a tremor through the marble floors.

Within seconds, half a dozen heavily armored Obsidian guards flooded the landing. They froze at the sight of their King kneeling on

The silence of the Frost Vault was absolute, broken only by the ragged, desperate sound of Kaelia’s own breathing.

She lay curled on her side on the solid ice floor, her woolen cloak doing nothing to stave off the unnatural, biting cold that permeated the tiny cell. It wasn't just physical frost;

The foundation of the Obsidian Court did not merely shake; it violently ruptured.

Rhydian Thorne was still sitting on the edge of the velvet bed in the healing ward, his arms wrapped securely around a feigning Seraphina Croft, when the first explosion tore through the outer courtyard. The sound was