Night descended dark and heavy over the palace grounds, obscuring the world in ink-black silence. Stars twinkled overhead, cooled by the advancing storm clouds that promised to spill their fury. But danger this evening lay not in the skies—it lay in the earth.

The Greyer Pack moved unseen, spectral and merciless, between towering trees and skirting behind palace walls. Nephtar led, face a silver glint beneath the hood of her war-cloak, lips compressed into a tight line of eager expectation. ...