The terrified scramble of the royal medical officials and the heavily armed Wolf Guards was deafening, but it lasted only a few seconds.
They didn't dare question the absolute, paralyzing authority radiating from the Serpent King. They practically tripped over their own boots as they fled the suffocating, sweltering bedchamber, dragging a weeping Sybil with them.
The doors slammed shut, the latch clicking into place.
The silence that followed was jarring, broken only by the distant, muffled booms of the battle raging at the borders of the territory, and the ragged, agonizing gasps tearing from Lexianna's throat.
She was thrashing blindly on the ruined silk sheets, her nine silver tails whipping through the air in a frantic, feral display of defensive magic. The heat rolling off her skin was terrifying.
Koa did not rush.
