The lights flicked back on when Okubo shouted again, and at the same time, Bautix’s guards pulled out their guns. The audience seemed to gasp all at once.

“Jackals,” Teo hissed. Then Aina saw it. One of the guards’ sleeves had rolled up past his elbow when he lifted the gun, leaving the jackal tattoo visible.

One of them aimed toward the stage, right at the princess, who froze in place. The shot fired. Ryuu jumped toward her, pushing her out of the way.

Aina bit down a scream as the bullet hit Ryuu instead. As shouts rose up in the audience, she looked for him on the stage, but the princess’s guards ran onto it, blocking Aina’s view.

Crouching low, she took out her knives and moved, Teo next to her. Shots fired everywhere as they wove between the fleeing guests. Teo shot two of the Jackals posing as Diamond Guards, but before they could reach the rest of them, they began to slip through the back door.

One of them turned around, and his cold blue eyes locked with Aina’s. It only lasted for a second, before Kohl followed Bautix through the exit.

The remaining Jackals fired at the real Diamond Guards, taking out a few near them. Okubo shouted for more backup, but Kohl and Bautix had already fled.

Pushing past the ball attendees, who were shoving their way toward the main exit, Aina and Teo reached the fight. She threw a knife that pierced the neck of one of the Jackals while Teo, the Diamond Guards, and the princess’s guards shot at the others.

In minutes, most of the Jackals were dead on the floor. Kohl, Bautix, and more Jackals had left through the ballroom’s back door. Guards were running after them, but Aina had a sinking feeling they wouldn’t succeed in catching them. She turned instead toward the stage and breathed a sigh of relief when she finally saw Ryuu, who sat on the stage, clutching his upper arm. The bullet wound was still bleeding, but he was alive.

Most of the reception guests had fled, their wineglasses and champagne flutes abandoned on the floor in their rush to get out.

The remaining four members of the Sentinel were speaking to the Linasian princess, who looked shaken, but unhurt. Her own guards gathered around her like a shield.

Raurie met Aina and Teo at the foot of the stairs leading up to the stage.

“You’re both safe,” she said with a cautious smile. “I saw Teo come into the ballroom without you, Aina. I thought you might have been in trouble.”

Aina shook her head. “I almost was, but I had help. Tannis, another girl from the Dom, was on our side, not Kohl’s. She fought him with me, but he injured her. She’s on the balcony, and she’s alive, but she’s bleeding badly. I need to get a healer to her.”

“Let’s go help her,” Raurie said, then cast an anxious glance toward the stage. “I don’t want to leave Ryuu to have to talk to the Sentinel alone, though.”