<h4>Chapter 624: Saving Her King (III)</h4>


    <strong><i>[Third Person].</i></strong>


    Dennis inhaled again. "He doesn’t."


    Which meant that the Vampires had found a way to mask themselves.


    Meredith turned sharply to the bordermander and assembled guards. "You saw what just happened."


    Some faces were pale, while the rest were angry.


    "The vampires are already among us," she continued. "But if we abandon these borders in panic and begin to fish them out, we hand them another opening."


    Themander swallowed. "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"


    "You continue guarding the Wall. Double vignce. Watch each other. Trust no unfamiliar scent."


    She then turned to the royal warriors who had apanied her from the pce. "You will sweep internally. Fish them out quietly and execute immediately."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!"


    Before another word could be spoken, a green blur descended from the sky. Meredith extended her arm instinctively, and Xamira, chirping sharply—urgent, frantic.


    As Meredith listened, her face changed. The air around her seemed to grow colder. At the same time, Valmora surged violently.


    <i>"Our mate is in danger."</i>


    Dennis stepped closer. "What is it?"


    Meredith’s voice came out low and controlled. "Groups of vampires are moving toward the pce."


    Dennis’s eyes widened. "Draven."


    The bird lifted back into the air, circling above them.


    Meredith’s eyes turned misty as she realized something that she never considered. She clenches her fist.


    "Their target was the pce all along," she said.


    Dennis’s breathing grew ragged. "We don’t know how many are inside. And Draven already sent all the pce warriors out. He is in danger."


    "And if they seize the pce," Meredith finished, "Stormveil falls." Her chest tightened violently. None of them had expected the situation to turn out this way.


    She had left him because she thought the danger was here.


    <i>’Grandmother’s prophecy is unfolding, despite my efforts to stop it,’ </i>Meredith pondered to herself as her heart fluttered wildly in her chest. Her beloved mate was in danger.


    The next moment, she turned sharply to the bordermander and every warrior present.


    "Stormveil is in greater danger than we realized," she dered. "The vampires are strategic. They aim for the pce. If they capture it, they control the kingdom."


    An uproar began, but she silenced them with one raised hand. Then, her voice cut through the air like steel.


    "Great Warriors of Stormveil... receive your Queen’smand!"


    Instantly, every warrior, including Dennis, dropped to one knee, and the sound of armour hitting earth echoed.


    "You will protect Stormveil with your lives. Guard these borders. No enemy enters. No enemy escapes."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" their voices thundered.


    Then, Meredith’s gaze fell on Dennis. "Alpha Dennis, you will remain at this border and secure it for your King."


    His jaw tightened, but he bowed. "I receive themand."


    Next, she turned to the royal warriors who hade with her. "You ride with me. We return to secure Stormveil’s heart."


    They bowed deeply.


    Finally, Meredith let her eyes sweep over the kneeling warriors. Her voice deepened with authority.


    "Do you, Great Warriors of Stormveil, yield your lives this day to protect your King and your people?"


    The response shook the air. "Yes, Your Majesty!"


    Then louder—


    "Long live the King! Long live the Queen!"


    Meredith did not hesitate. She turned towards the vehicles, towards the pce, towards her mate.


    And this time, she was not arriving to just offer protection. She was arriving to kill.


    ---


    The first crash against the pce gates shook the floors. Then another. Then a third—louder, splintering wood and iron.


    Outside, pce guards roared as steel shed against ws and bone. The scent of blood flooded the courtyard. Screams followed, then snarls. The sickening crack of stone giving way.


    The vampires had surrounded the pce, and they were no longer hiding.


    Inside the Grand Hall, the doors burst open as a bloodied guard stumbled in and fell to one knee.


    "Your Majesty!" he gasped. "Hundreds—hundreds of vampires have breached the outer gates!"


    Instantly, the hall erupted.


    "What?!"


    "In broad daylight?!"


    "Impossible!"


    Several Alphas surged to their feet, fury zing in their eyes. The remaining Elders shouted over one another, outrage mixing with fear.


    Then, one elder mmed his fist against the table. "This is why they should have been wiped out centuries ago! Creatures like them have never brought anything but threat to our peace!"


    Another voice growled, "To dare attack the Royal Pce—!"


    Draven stood slowly, and the temperature in the hall seemed to drop.


    "Oscar," he said evenly, "remove the maps."


    Oscar immediately began rolling up therge Stormveil charts spread across the war table. Servants scrambled to clear documents and seal sensitive information.


    Then, Draven turned to the Steward. "Lock down all inner corridors. Inform every soul in this pce—they defend themselves."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!"


    "To the guards," Draven continued, voice carrying through the hall like steel drawn from a sheath. "They should kill without hesitation."


    There was no debate or mercy in his tone.


    Just then, another crash thundered through the pce walls. The sound of fighting grew closer.


    One of the Elders stepped forward, pale. "Your Majesty... this appears to be a direct assault on you. You must withdraw. There are escape routes beneath the—"


    Draven scoffed. "I am not going anywhere," he said, and slowly walked past them all. He ascended the steps to his throne and sat. The hall fell silent.


    Then, his gaze moved across every Alpha and Elder present. "This," he said calmly, "is where I will remain."


    Another explosion echoed somewhere deeper in the pce. Dust drifted faintly from the ceiling.


    "If they dare invade Stormveil and cause suchmotion without fear," Draven continued, his eyes burning, "then they will find me here."


    A heavy silence followed, then one of the Alphas stepped closer. "Your Majesty, we stand with you."


    Draven inclined his head slightly. "And I will protect you all in return." His promise was absolute.


    Just then, another Alpha added urgently, "Your majesty, we must send for reinforcements. The outer districts—"


    "Reinforcements are already on their way," Draven replied as he thought of Xamira already passing the information to Meredith. Then, he thought of the bond humming faintly at the back of his mind.


    "By the will of the Moon Goddess," he said quietly, "we will hold this ground until help arrives."


    Outside, a roar of unnatural fury tore through the courtyard as another wave of vampires shed against pce defenders.


    Draven’s jaw tightened. In his mind, a different thought surfaced. <i>’If this esctes, if they force her hand, then this is where her fae power will be revealed. Before Alphas. Before Elders. Before the entire kingdom.’</i>


    His chest tightened briefly—not from fear for her. Because if she unleashed what she truly was, Stormveil would never be the same again.


    Just then, another impact shook the pce doors. Then, Draven leaned back slightly in his throne, eyes fixed on the entrance.


    "Let theme," he murmured. Then, turning to Oscar, he passed an instruction.