The first death came without warning.
It wasn't from the southern spire.
It wasn't even in Valoria.
It happened on the outskirts of the Eastern Quarter, in a district left vulnerable after the recent sabotage of the wards. A small, seemingly insignificant attack that sent ripples through the city, growing into something larger than it was meant to be.
The body was discovered in the early morning hours—a young woman, no older than seventeen, found at the city's border, marked with a symbol no one recognized, but everyone feared.
The news reached Alisha by midday, carried by a scout who barely had breath left to speak.
She was in the command center, surrounded by maps, projections, and projections of the city's shifting balance, when the message arrived.
Her heart dropped.
"What happened?" she demanded, already moving before the scout could even answer.
"An assassination," the scout said weakly. "Someone tried to claim the city by killing her."
Alisha's mind raced. Her?
The girl wasn't important. She wasn't royal. She wasn't a noble.
She was a symbol.
The Shadow King's first true strike. A reminder.
He didn't take power.
He made it disappear.
"Where is the body?" Alisha asked.
The scout hesitated. "At the temple of the moon. No one will touch her."
"Good," Alisha said. "Get a team together. I want the body brought to the palace. Now."
She turned to Rowan, who had already seen the answer in her eyes.
"You're already planning something," Rowan said softly.
"I am," Alisha replied. "I can't let them think this is a game."
Caelan stood in the corner, eyes narrowed. "You're going to confront him."
"No," she said quickly. "I'm going to show him that we don't bow to fear."
The moon shone bright over the city as Alisha arrived at the temple, the body now draped in a shroud of silver cloth. She stepped forward, her feet light on the stone floors, her presence commanding despite the stillness of the room.
The city had begun to buzz with unrest, but Alisha had no room for that.
Not now.
Not when one of her own had been taken.
She knelt before the body, her heart racing as she took the young woman's cold, still hand. The Shadow King had made a mark on her, something unseen but felt throughout Valoria.
The silence in the temple grew deeper, more suffocating. Rowan had sent word for the rest of the temple guards to stand down—only those Alisha trusted were allowed to approach.
"Let this be a lesson," she whispered aloud, her voice strong and clear despite the weight in her chest. "We will not bend to death. We will not bend to fear."
She stood, her fingers brushing the girl's forehead before stepping back.
The word would spread. She would make sure of that.
She would show them that no matter how personal the strike, no matter how small, it would never break the city.
It would never break her.
And it would never break what she had left to hold.