"Prince."
The title carried no mockery.
"Kaelen says you can lead."
Daemon stepped forward, meeting Malzaun's gaze without flinching. The weight of attention shifted.
"I can."
"Then I offer you my blade and my command." Malzaun drew a knife, reversed it, and presented the hilt. "The Veil Guard answers to you until the throne breaks, or we do."
Daemon took the blade. Held it for a moment, testing the weight, then returned it the same way it had been offered.
"How do you divide for infiltration?"
"Four clusters. Five soldiers each. You take command of the first. I lead the second. Two of your men split the third and fourth."
"Kael. Kane."
I saw Kael and Kane in the crowd, both standing straighter than I'd seen them since the caves and wearing the same expressions I'd seen at Blackstone Keep. Ready for violence. They took a few steps forward and stopped a step behind Captain Malzaun.
"Zephyr." Daemon's voice cut through the murmur starting to build. "You shadow Seris. Nothing hostile gets near her without your arrow embedded in their skull."
Zephyr materialized from somewhere in the ranks, moving light and quick. "Understood."
"Seris requires dedicated protection." Daemon looked at Malzaun. "Four soldiers to protect her from all directions, with Zephyr managing threats at a distance. Non-negotiable."
"Already assigned." Malzaun gestured, and four figures stepped forward. Four men, each carrying spears and wearing full armor, greeted me with a salute. "They don't leave her side. They don't engage unless she's threatened. Their only objective is her survival."
One of them met my eyes through the small opening in his armor. Nodded once.
I wanted to argue. Wanted to say I didn't need protection, that I could handle myself, but I knew it was necessary.
"Accepted." I forced the word out.
Daemon turned to address the assembled soldiers, his voice carrying through the cavern without strain. "The capital's main force will engage at the gates. Our objective is the throne room. We move through the old tunnels, bypass the castle defenses, and reach the Devourer before the king knows we're there."
"How do we kill it?" someone called from the ranks.
"We don't." Daemon's shadows stirred. "Seris severs the binding. I kill the king. The Devourer goes back where it came from, or we seal it there."
"And if the binding can't be broken?"
Silence stretched. I felt the weight of it, the question beneath the question, what happens if you fail?
"Then we all die." Daemon didn't flinch. "But the Devourer dies with us, and the throne breaks regardless."
Malzaun barked something that might have been a laugh. "Simple plan. I like it."
Despite the slim chance of success, and the fact that some of these soldiers were marching to their impending doom, there was not a single expression of fear. Only resolve. These soldiers had waited for decades to fight for their families. They were ready to give their lives.
Kaelen stepped forward, her voice ringing through the space. "This is not vengeance. This is not justice. This is survival." She looked across the assembled forces. "The king's madness spreads. The Devourer feeds. If we wait, there will be nothing left to save. Fight for your families. Fight for the soldier next to you."
Heads nodded. Weapons shifted.
"You march at sunset. Tomorrow, we avenge Vaelthorne." Kaelen's gaze found mine. "The gates fall at midnight. The strike teams enter the tunnels once the reinforcements join the fray. Timing is absolute. If you're too early, the enemy will coordinate their forces to stop you."
Daemon absorbed this. "Understood."
