The square didn't dissolve into chaos.
It fractured.
Voices rose everywhere at once, questions, speculation, arguments—but before momentum could turn into disorder, guards moved in formations, redirecting the crowd.
"This way," Amelia said, already moving.
She didn't raise her voice.
Ryn fell into step beside her as she cut through the thinning edge of the crowd, Maria and Jay close behind. The city around them was shifting fast, almost like everything had been prepared for this one moment.
No one was waiting.
They'd planned for this.
Amelia pulled something from her pocket, a small stone that was now glowing.
Her expression tightened.
"The Crown Princess is calling an emergency meeting," she said quietly. "All houses within the Gremory Kingdom was told to attend."
Ryn glanced sideways. "That was fast."
Her lips pressed together. "It had to be."
