The dark, agonizing terror that violently seized Drax's face was the absolute last thing Roxy saw before the suffocating wave of pain completely consumed her vision.
The teenage King scooped his mother entirely into his arms before she could even slip another inch toward the blackened stone.
"Guards!" Drax roared, his voice tearing through the quiet night air, amplified by raw draconic panic. It wasn't the voice of a sovereign ruler; it was the desperate, terrified shout of a son. "Get my fathers! Now!"
The quiet, simmering peace of the Obsidian Palace instantly, catastrophically shattered.
Within seconds, the heavy stone corridors echoed with the frantic, deafening thud of massive boots. Zarek reached the balcony first. The King of the East didn't even bother using the doors; he practically tore the heavy iron-wood archway off its hinges as he burst onto the terrace, his golden eyes blown wide with terror.
Kaelen, Torian, Syris, and Caspian were mere heartbeats behind him.
