After my conversation with Icarus, the restlessness within me only grew. The helplessness gnawed at me, a slow, merciless consumption from the inside. He had told me to trust in the King's strength, to believe in the unparalleled skill of the Royal Army’s finest warriors—but I had seen the flicker of fear in his eyes. The same fear that was rooted deep within me.

I knew Hadrian could take on ten men, perhaps even a hundred. But thousands were coming. And together, their power was ...