Jacob stared at the intercepted intelligence for a long time before speaking. Verons knew they were coming. The carefully planned eight-minute window was now a death sentence waiting to spring. But backing out was not an option—Seron would fall within days without this strike.He looked up to find Anna watching him with that expression he had learned to recognize. She knew what he was thinking before he said it."You are not coming," Jacob said.Anna's face hardened. "We already discussed this.""That was before Verons tripled his security. Before we knew he was expecting us." Jacob stood and walked to the window overlooking Seron's burning districts. "This mission was already suicide. Now it is guaranteed death for everyone involved.""Then you should not go either.""I have to. The artifacts respond to Krigg bloodline. Only I can retrieve the fourth piece if we somehow reach it." He turned to face her. "But you do not need to die with me. Stay here. Coordinate Seron's defense. If I

The team moved in absolute silence through pre-dawn darkness. Jacob led them along a narrow creek bed that wound between hills, using the running water to mask their tracks and the cover of vegetation to stay hidden from the battalion searching nearby.Every fifty meters he stopped to listen. The Argo soldiers were not subtle—their search pattern involved large groups crashing through underbrush with lights and loud communication. Professional in organization but lacking the stealth discipline that Jacob's team maintained.They covered three miles in two hours. Brutal, exhausting movement that required constant vigilance. Anna stayed close behind Jacob, her breathing controlled despite the pace. Roseline brought up the rear, watching their back trail for any signs of pursuit.Dawn was breaking when Jacob spotted the problem. Ahead, through morning mist, he could see an Argo patrol setting up a checkpoint on the only route that offered concealment through this area. Six soldiers, one v

Jacob did not give anyone time to think about it. He pulled Anna toward the river's edge while shouting orders to the team. "Everyone in! Now!"The first ones hesitated, staring at water that looked more like liquid violence than something survivable. Then Argo bullets started hitting closer and the choice became obvious—probable death by drowning versus certain death by gunfire.Jacob hit the water first, pulling Anna with him. The cold was shocking, driving air from his lungs in an involuntary gasp. Then the current grabbed them and all rational thought disappeared into the chaos of trying not to drown.The river was faster than it looked from shore. Jacob barely had time to suck in a breath before being pulled under, tumbling in darkness while rocks slammed against his body. He lost his grip on Anna immediately. One moment her hand was in his, the next moment gone, torn away by water moving with irresistible force.He surfaced gasping, searching desperately for Anna while being swe

Gerard moved fast despite his age. "The cellar. Now. All of you."Jacob's team scrambled to follow as villagers lifted a concealed trapdoor beneath hay bales in the barn's corner. The opening led to a root cellar—cramped, dark, smelling of earth and old vegetables. Twenty-two people pressed into a space meant for storing food, barely enough room to crouch."Not a sound," Gerard hissed before dropping the trapdoor closed. Darkness swallowed them.Jacob could hear boots hitting ground above, multiple soldiers spreading through the barn. Hay being kicked around, tools being moved, a systematic search that would eventually reach the cellar if they looked carefully enough.Beside him Anna was breathing too fast, the enclosed space triggering panic from being trapped. Jacob found her hand in the darkness and squeezed, trying to communicate calm through touch alone. Her breathing slowed slightly but her hand trembled."Nothing in here except farming equipment," a soldier's voice came through

The tunnel entrance was exactly where Anna said it would be. Jacob descended first, testing ancient stone steps that somehow still held weight after two centuries. The passage smelled of earth and stale air, but the construction was solid—Chen family engineering built to last.They moved in single file through darkness, using minimal light to avoid detection. The tunnel ran deep beneath the city, following a route that predated current street layouts. Anna navigated from memory of her grandmother's stories, calling out directions at intersections where multiple passages branched off."Left here. Then straight for two hundred paces. There should be a chamber with three exits—we take the middle one."Her instructions proved accurate. The tunnels were extensive, a hidden network running beneath the entire palace complex. Jacob realized the Chen family had built not just servant passages but an entire infrastructure for covert movement. Strategic planning from an era when mystical guardia