Nikolai

The scent of her fear had been a thin, sharp thread in the air, a counterpoint to the cloying sweetness of the celebration. Even as I’d held her on the dance floor, her small, rigid body pressed against mine, a part of my mind was elsewhere, listening to a different, more urgent rhythm.

“Sire.” Atlas’s voice was a grim knife in my thoughts, cutting through the music and laughter. "They’re here. At the northern border, just as we suspected. It’s a full-scale breach this ...