Inside the carriage, Elizabeth sat bolt upright.
She was dressed in the formal traveling attire of the Royal Family—a long, ink-black silk gown. Its cuffs and collar were embroidered with delicate griffin patterns in silver and violet-gold thread, and over it, she wore a light, matching velvet shawl.
Her thick, dark hair was swept up in a courtly chignon, revealing the fair nape of her neck.
Her dark eyes, a legacy from her mother, peered intently through a slit in the reinforced carriage window, fixed on the abruptly tense scene outside.
She pursed her lips, her hand unconsciously tightening around the hilt of a shortsword fastened to the carriage's interior wall.
Its sheath was studded with gemstone fragments, making it seem ornamental, but the blade within was lethally sharp.
It was a gift from William IV, bestowed upon her before her departure.
