The Kingdom of Ivanova was dying.
Smoke rose beyond the castle walls in thick black waves, curling into the storm-dark heavens like the final breath of a fallen empire. Fires consumed the lower districts of the capital city while the sound of distant screams echoed faintly through the rain-soaked night.
The war was over.
Draco had won.
Inside the royal palace of Ivanova, servants hurried silently through dark corridors, trembling whenever armored footsteps thundered nearby. The once-proud halls were now filled with enemy soldiers clad in black steel armor marked with the silver dragon sigil of Draco Kingdom.
The symbol of the conqueror.
King Alexander.
The man feared across continents.
The man mothers warned their children about.
The man who had never lost a war.
And tonight—
he sat upon another king's throne.
