Nicholas’s POV
It was supposed to be an ordinary morning.
A quiet one, even the kind where the palace felt less like a fortress and more like a home. The smell of breakfast bread drifting through the halls, the faint laughter of children somewhere near the east courtyard.
Then came the scream.
High. Shattering. Sofia’s.
I was halfway down the marble stair before the guards even moved.
The scent of blood hit next.
Norman lunged in my mind like a beast uncaged. Ours! Pup!
I followed the scent through the corridor and into the training courtyard. The scene froze me mid-stride.
Carl lay sprawled on the gravel, one arm twisted protectively around his sister. His shirt was torn, crimson staining the fabric. He’d stepped between Sofia and another boy, the elder’s son, who was now backed
