While Prince Alaric still slept peacefully, Agilus was already hard at work. Alongside a trusted ally from the Baron's residence, he organized the safe return of the abducted children to their families.
The house, once filled with the laughter, chatter, and occasional outbursts of young voices, slowly fell into a hushed stillness. By midday, The House of Mendel stood eerily quiet.
All of the children had been carefully herded into carriages bound for various corners of the kingdom—every one of them except three.
A ten-year-old boy, a dark-skinned girl of eleven, and her wide-eyed younger brother, just nine years old, stood silently in the front yard. Unlike the others, they had no home to return to. Orphans, they had once wandered the back alleys and streets of the capital before being swept up by the same cruel hands that had taken so many others.
