"For treason, kidnapping, and murder most foul, the sentence is death."A murmur passed through the crowd. Two guards stepped forward to bind Nikolai to the execution block. The prisoner made neither protest nor resistance. Defeated, he simply closed his eyes as the glinting axe was raised.Alexei forced himself to watch impassively as it fell. The heavy blade cleaved flesh and bone in one clean stroke. The crowd roared approval, thirsty for vengeance slaked at last.Alexei turned away, feeling only ahollow sense of grim necessity fulfilled. There could be no satisfaction or closure from this ritual of violence and pain. The hole left by his loss would ever gnaw silently within him. But with Nikolai gone, no one else need be sacrificed to this bloody feud between their families. Alexei would rule with wisdom and temperance, honoring those his uncle's cruelty had cut down too soon.As Alexei rode from the silent fortress, the first winter snowflakes swirled around him, pristine and fo

Alexei leveled his blade at Stefan's throat. "Who are you truly, and who sent you against me?" he demanded.The imposter bowed his head bitterly as murmurs rippled through the crowd. The kingdom had almost fallen to this elaborate ruse. But Alexei's loyal allies and cunning had saved it, for now. With Stefan once more imprisoned, Alexei felt hope cautiously rekindle that order could be restored.The false Stefan was hauled away in chains, still refusing to reveal his true identity or purpose. Alexei knew powerful forces were behind this nearly successful coup, and he had to act swiftly to solidify control before the next strike fell.After hastily gathering reinforcements from nearby estates, Alexei addressed his warily gathered court. "My friends, we have weathered a great deceit intended to topple all we have built. But we did not yield. Remember this in the coming days."Privately, he conferred with his inner circle of advisers to root out any remaining dissenters hiding behind f

The warlord's forces surged ever closer to Alexei's kingdom, scouts reporting their numbers and ferocity increasing daily. Though Alexei had mustered his troops as swiftly as possible, they remained outmatched. Grim options weighed upon him.In the war room, Alexei pored desperately over maps by candlelight, seeking anything that could avail them. He had to find some way to shield his lands and Katrina from the coming storm. At last a risky possibility emerged - luring the advancing horde into a mountain pass notoriously treacherous and prone to avalanche. It was a desperate gambit, but their best hope of evening the odds. Alexei began issuing orders to covertly funnel the enemy toward the site of ambush.When the day of reckoning came, Alexei watched anxiously from a distance as the oblivious invaders took the bait, flooding into the narrow pass. The tide of their march would soon turn.Finally Alexei gave the signal. With a thundering detonation, his engineers collapsed part of the