Chapter 355. No Longer a Distant Threat

Ann stood on the stone steps beside Adam as the palace gates dragged open with a groan, and the courtyard filled with the sound of shouting before the guards even realized who was staggering through.

The first of the survivors staggered into view and she had to stop her mouth from dropping open. She had expected a handful of scouts, maybe wounded soldiers but instead, half a dozen men and women stumbled forward, barely upright, with some supported by others, and some dragging themselves along the ground.

Blood streaked their armor, their skin blistered in patches and veins blackened beneath the surface, glowing faintly before dimming again.

Ann’s throat tightened and she felt sick to her stomach. These weren’t ordinary wounds. She knew exactly what they were.

Gasps rippled through the courtyard and the nobles pressed handkerchiefs to their noses, as though fabric could block out the stench of rancid blood and necrosis. Lycans at the edge of the crowd stiffene