Then a new voice, urgency carefully controlled: "Group three. Targets are moving toward the central dock platform. They’re spreading out—looks like they’re setting up crossfire positions."
"Let them finish," Elara said. "I want them fully positioned before we move."
Thirty seconds passed. Felt like thirty minutes.
"They’re in position, Your Highness. All six have clear sight lines to the eting point. Waiting for their target to arrive."
Elara let another ten seconds pass. Make sure they were settled, confident, ready.
Then she spoke clearly into the crystal: "All groups. Execute."
What happened next ca through in fragnts over the crystal:
"Group one engaging—rooftop team moving—"
The sound of feet hitting wood, fast and hard.
"Targets spotted us—they’re turning—crossbow discharge—"
A aty thunk. Soone gasping.
"One down! Group two, cut them off!"
More running. The clang of steel on steel. A scream—short, cut off abruptly.
"Two more engaged! They’re trying to retreat to the warehouse—Group three, intercept!"
"We see them—engaging now—"
Chaos over the crystal for fifteen seconds. Shouts, the distinctive sound of combat, sothing heavy crashing into water.
Then, gradually, quiet.
The fox knight’s voice ca through, slightly breathless: "Your Highness. All six targets neutralized. Three dead, three captured. Minor injuries to our side—one knight took a crossbow bolt to the shoulder, already being treated. No other casualties."
Elara exhaled slowly. "Secure the prisoners. I want them isolated and ready for interrogation within the hour. Clean the scene—bodies into the water, blood scrubbed, no evidence visible by the ti dock workers return."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"And the one who was injured—make sure he’s properly treated. Hazard pay for everyone who participated. Fifty gold each."
"Your Highness, that’s very generous—"
"They risked their lives executing my plan. Compensation is appropriate." She set down the crystal. "I’m coming to the docks. Have the prisoners ready."
"Your Highness, is that wise? There could be more—"
"There aren’t more. Six is a full professional team for a single-target elimination. If there were reinforcents, they’d have moved already." She pulled on her cloak. "I want to see these assassins personally."
---
Twenty minutes later, Elara stood in a warehouse near the eastern docks, looking at three n kneeling on the floor.
They were professional—she could see it imdiately. The fox knight’s tail twitched once. "She doesn’t. That’s what makes it terrifying."
---
Elara arrived at rchant Lord Carver’s estate at precisely nine in the morning.
She brought ten beast knights, Dimitri carrying three folders of evidence, and a city magistrate she’d summoned with official imperial authority.
The guards at Carver’s gate looked uncertain. A princess arriving with ard soldiers and a magistrate was not a social call.
"Inform rchant Lord Carver that Princess Elara Blackwood is here on imperial business," Elara said calmly. "He has five minutes to receive us or I enter by force."
The guards exchanged glances. One ran inside.
Three minutes later, the gates opened.
Carver’s estate was impressive—three-story manor, manicured gardens, marble fountain in the courtyard. The kind of wealth that took generations to accumulate.
Elara walked through it all without looking, focused only on the main entrance where Carver himself stood waiting.
He was in his fifties, broad-shouldered, well-dressed in rchant finery. His face was carefully composed but his eyes were calculating, already trying to figure out her angle.
"Your Highness," he said, bowing just enough to be respectful but not submissive. "This is unexpected. If you’d sent word, I would have prepared proper—"
"I’m not here for hospitality," Elara interrupted. "We’re going to have a conversation about the poisoned spices your company delivered to my supermarket three days ago."
Carver’s expression didn’t change. "I heard about that unfortunate incident. Terrible business. But I’m not sure what you think my company—"
"Stop." Elara gestured to Dimitri, who pulled out the first folder. "This is a complete record of all deliveries from Carver Trade Goods to the Central Market. Dates, contents, signatures."
She nodded. Dimitri pulled out the second folder.
"This is the analysis from the city physician. The contaminated spice jar was nightshade derivative mixed with paprika. Professional preparation, precise dosing. Not accidental contamination—deliberate poisoning."
Carver shifted his weight slightly. "Your Highness, if one of my suppliers—"
"Third folder," Elara said.
Dimitri opened it. "This is testimony from three separate witnesses—dock workers who observed rchant Lord Carver’s personal assistant visiting the spice warehouse the day before the delivery. They confirm he personally inspected and approved the specific containers sent to the supermarket."
"That doesn’t prove—"
"And this," Elara continued, pulling out a fourth docunt Dimitri hadn’t known she had, "is a signed confession from your assistant. Obtained by the Shadow Guild two hours ago. He admits you ordered him to contaminate specific spice containers with precise instructions on dosing and delivery timing."
Carver’s face went pale.
"Your assistant is currently in custody," Elara said. "Along with the warehouse supervisor and the delivery driver. All three have provided detailed testimony about your direct involvent in poisoning my custors."
Silence.
The magistrate stepped forward, unrolling an official docunt. "rchant Lord Carver, under imperial authority, you are hereby charged with deliberate poisoning, attempted mass harm, comrcial sabotage, and conspiracy against a mber of the imperial family. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Carver stared at the docunt. At Elara. At the ten beast knights standing ready behind her.
"This is absurd," he said finally. "You can’t just waltz into my ho with fabricated—"
"The magistrate has verified every piece of evidence," Elara interrupted. "The testimony is legally binding. The physical evidence is docunted. And the charges carry a minimum sentence of twenty years in imperial prison."
She let that sink in.
"However," she continued, "I’m not here to see you imprisoned."
Carver’s eyes narrowed. "Then why are you here?"
"To offer you the sa choice I offered Baron Kessler." She pulled out another docunt—a property transfer agreent. "You sign over all business assets to a holding company I designate. You dissolve all partnerships and comrcial operations in Port Crestfall. You leave the city within one week and never return."
"You want to give you everything."
"Yes."
"In exchange for what?"
"I delay presenting this evidence to the Emperor for one year. If you comply fully and cause no problems, the evidence disappears and you live quietly sowhere else with whatever assets you hold outside Port Crestfall."
Carver laughed—sharp and bitter. "That’s the sa deal you gave Kessler. He was a fool to take it."
"He’s alive and his family isn’t ruined. That makes him smarter than you think."
"I’m not Kessler." Carver crossed his arms. "I have actual power in this city. Connections. Resources. You think you can threaten like so minor baron who got scared?"
"I don’t think. I calculate." Elara’s voice remained flat. "You have three choices. Sign the agreent and live. Refuse and go to prison for twenty years. Or refuse and force to use option three."
"Which is?"
"Complete destruction of everything you’ve built, followed by your death."
The magistrate shifted uncomfortably. The beast knights didn’t move.
Carver stared at her. "You’re bluffing. You can’t just kill a rchant lord without—"
"Attempted poisoning of a princess is punishable by death," Elara said. "The magistrate can confirm that. The evidence is overwhelming. If I want you executed, I file the paperwork and wait for the Emperor’s seal. You’d be dead within a month."
"But you just said you’d delay—"
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