The arrests began exactly at dawn.
I watched from the palace balcony as Shadow Guard units moved through the capital like smoke, silent and deadly. One moment the streets were empty in that peculiar pre-dawn quiet. The next, soldiers were kicking down doors, dragging nobles from their beds, chaining servants who tried to flee.
Fourteen simultaneous raids. Fourteen noble houses thrown into chaos within the span of an hour.
"It's beautiful, in a terrible sort of way," I murmured, watching a duke I vaguely recognized being hauled into a prison cart, still in his nightclothes. "Like watching dominoes fall."
"You sound like him," a small voice said behind me.
I turned to find Elian standing in the doorway, his sleep-tousled hair catching the early morning light. He was supposed to be asleep, guarded in our chambers. Instead, he was here, watching the violence unfold with eyes far too old for his young face.
"Sound like who, baby?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
