The palace was still burning in scattered places when Kai finally returned to the grand royal chambers with Yena safely at his side.
The central tower had partially collapsed during the catastrophic magical backlash, but the inner residential wing remained mostly intact and perfectly insulated from the worst of the exterior destruction.
Servants and surviving guards had already started cleaning dark, pooling blood from the polished stone floors and dragging away the broken bodies of the fallen elites who had tried to defend the old regime.
They dropped immediately to their trembling knees the moment they saw him walking down the wide corridor, abandoning their cleaning rags and heavy weapons to press their foreheads against the cold tiles in total submission.
"Winter King," they whispered under their breath in a terrified, echoing chorus, treating him like a walking god of death who had just descended from the heavens to judge them all.
