~LENORA'S POV
He's dead.
I found that I could neither breathe nor move, could only stare at the blood running down his face and wonder whether I had just watched the world break in front of me.
No guard rushed forward. No one screamed orders. Lucian simply remained still, his eyes trained on the one who had thrown the dagger.
Alaric remained upright in his chair, and after a moment that felt far too long, he slowly raised his head with the dagger still lodged in his skull.
A demoness near the front stumbled back into her husband. . "That went through him," she whispered.
"Pull back," another noble hissed urgently, dragging his chair away from the dais. "If the blade carried rot or curse it may spread."
"Do not be ridiculous," someone else snapped, though he too shifted farther from the raised platform. "If the High Lord wished us dead, we would not be standing."
