The moment the heavy Vanguard carriage rolled through the iron-forged gates of the estate, the absolute chaos began.
Heena barely had time to register that she was finally safe before she was whisked away into her private chambers. Samuel and her grandfather had transformed her bedroom into a makeshift triage center. No less than four of the most prestigious physicians in the capital were already waiting, nervously clutching their medical boxes while the old Vanguard General paced the floor like a caged tiger.
"Check her! Check everything!" her grandfather roared, his booming voice shaking the dust from the rafters. "If a single strand of her hair is out of place, I will dismantle the Imperial Academy brick by brick!"
Samuel stood silently by the door, his arms crossed over his chest. He had washed the blood from his hands, but the terrifying, predatory stillness in his golden eyes made the physicians tremble even harder than the old general's shouting.
