“He is not my father. He is not my king. I hate him. And I hate that fool as well.”Ailina’s voice trembled in the darkness of the underground corridor. Whether the tremor came from anger or heartbreak, even she could not have said. Sometimes the two felt the same.She stood beneath flickering torchlight, no more than seventeen, slender and tall in a way that made her seem almost fragile. Her pale blue hair fell to her hips, catching the light like silver water against the damp stone walls. In another place, under a summer sky perhaps, she would have looked ethereal. Here, in the bowels of the royal palace, she looked like a caged star.If one observed her carefully, one might notice something familiar in the curve of her brow, in the sharpness of her gaze. A faint resemblance to the Holy Emperor, Ares Valen.“Ailina, do not speak that way.”The woman inside the cell stepped forward. Chains around her wrists shifted with a soft metallic sound. Though hardship had carved subtle lines a

“They fled? The royal battle guard actually fled?”King Uhtred of Tyland stood upon the highest tower of Huana Duo, his hands resting heavily on the cold stone parapet. The wind tugged at his cloak and carried with it the distant clang of armor and iron. Around him gathered princes in jeweled robes, ministers with drawn faces, and noblemen who no longer remembered how to speak.Below the walls stretched a sight so vast that it seemed unreal.An ocean of soldiers.Nine hundred thousand.Their banners swayed like a forest of iron trees. The sky above them looked dimmed, swallowed by scarlet and gold standards that moved in steady waves. Sunlight flashed across polished armor in blinding bursts. The ground trembled under the synchronized march of countless boots. Even from this height, the sound was relentless. It seeped into bone and breath alike.“Father… what are we to do?”The eldest prince stepped forward, though his voice betrayed him. It cracked despite his effort to appear compos